Antineoplastons, Me and possibly You…

I sometimes wonder about myself.

My wife says I do everything to the extreme and I agree, but I don’t know why. Instead of basketball or soccer like all the normal kids in high school, I somehow found myself snowboarding and wakeboarding my way into three broken ribs, a dislocated hip, and broken wrist. Instead of trombone or clarinet, I murdered the faculty with my electric guitar and nasal vocals of our punk band.

College was worse. I spent 3/4 of my time in Amway trying to get rich, instead of at social events trying to make friends.  By the time the last 1/4 was over, I developed cancer, had surgery, completed chemo/radiation, planned a wedding (NOT REALLY : ) , found a job, and graduated MCL with my B.S. in Marketing.

And it couldn’t be something like breast or prostate cancer. It had to be brain cancer. And not grade I or II but IV. Glioblastoma Multiforme. That’s the worst. Most people die in a year. Extreme. My wife and I wish it were not the case. But it gets better.

In 2010 the cancer returned with a vengeance. We learned that extreme trust in God was our lifeline to get past insurmountable physical, emotional and financial difficulties. 2011 brought a greater hope but was quickly interrupted by a new, inoperable growth into the corpus callosum that was found last month.

I sometimes wonder how I got to the point where I’ve exhausted all of the treatment options in the last four years. But, then again, I was given a 2-3% chance of living 3 years…so I am blessed. Craniotomy #1, 6 weeks concurrent chemo/radiation, two more rounds of chemo, two more craniotomies, 19 Avastin infusions and five more chemo rounds.

Plus I’ve researched and completed just about every well-known natural cancer regimen/therapy and spent thousands of hours and dollars completing these. If you have heard of it…I’ve tried it. It’s been extreme and I sometimes wonder why nothing has worked. As despite all of my efforts, this nasty tumor has begun to grow like wildfire.

And so I find myself at the Burzynski Clinic in Houston, TX. The most expensive cancer clinic in the US. I am starting a phase II/phase III clinical trial for the antineoplaston gene-targeted therapy for Glioblastoma patients. All of the major university clinical trials have turned me down. And this is my best option. Although the actual medicine is free through the clinical trial, there is a continued cost of $7600 +/month for daily nurse consults, lab work, extra medication and much more. Like I said extreme. As this could take eight months or more.

They are having a 20-30% success rate with GBM patients, which is a heck of a lot better than the 2-3% success rate for standard therapy I have been on. I consider it a total miracle combined with the natural therapies/doctors that God has led me to in the past four years for why I am still here.

My main desire to live is for my beautiful wife Logan. As I cannot bear the thought of her losing me. And I want to be used by God in a special way before He comes back. I believe this is why He has opened all of the doors and already worked a number of miracles for me to come to this clinic. My wife and mother drove me from Salt Lake to Las Vegas to Houston, which was a miracle in itself that I survived due to my electrical sensitivity issues and my ketogenic diet. I only vomited on the road once, but they injected me with Valium for the last 60 miles to get to Houston that night without me having a seizure and being zonked out for my physical I had to pass to pursue the clinical trial.

God worked a miracle the next day, giving me enough energy to appear composed enough to pass the physical exam and get accepted for approval. The FDA has accepted their request and I started treatment on Tuesday. Fortunately we are blessed with incredible friends and family who helped us come up with the $21,000 it took to start the treatments.

I have a port (hole in my chest) and I carry around a bag that delivers the medicine day and night. It’s a tough regime and I am on steroids, but seem to be doing better each day, including experiencing symptoms of tumor breakdown. Obviously time is the only predictor of what will happen, and I have no idea how we will fund all of this, but it seems as if God has opened too many “heavy” doors for it not to work out.

And so I am asking for help. Help to stay alive. But not for me. For Logan. Because I’m not interested in her becoming a widow at 24.

The clinic is unlike other facilities in that they require treatment funds up front and then we work on insurance payback. Good for them, but an extreme financial difficulty for us. Fortunately we serve an extreme  God who can work out extreme difficulties. He has already worked many miracles and will work more if it’s His will for me to stay on this treatment. If you are anyone you know is willing to be a part of this life-saving effort here are some things you can do.

1. Pray. Pray. Pray!

2. Email loganehlert@yahoo.com for and address or information on how to donate to a Harper Cancer Fund that has been set up through Bank of America. This can be done through an in-bank transfer, wire or by visiting your local Bank of America branch with the account and routing number, which she will provide. We tried to make this tax deductible but it is not possible.

3. Visit http://prayfordaniel.com and purchase “Pray for Daniel” bands through Paypal (credit cards etc). Or send as “payment owed” through Paypal to danielgharper@yahoo.com.

4. Repost this blog on Facebook and/or email it to as many contacts as possible. The website is http://christianpoints.com

” O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.” – Psalms 30:2

I feel like a chum asking for money. If I die, sucks for me but more for others. Therefore I view this as a fundraiser for God, my wife, friends and family. Life is incredibly difficult right now, but I believe it is my responsibility to stay alive and I am  in God’s hands. Thanks for listening. God Bless.