About My Mom and Our Family

Paula Bellow has always been a faithful mom - faithful to God, her family, her husband, and her children. As her child, I have always admired and respected my mom for her great faith. She is the strongest woman of faith that I know. My mom has taught me the importance of loving God with all your heart, always standing up for what you believe even if you suffer or are persecuted for it, and the importance of family - being there for each other no matter what.

My mom and dad, Mike, were married when then were 18, had their 1st child at 19 and just had their 10th child in 2002. They are now both only 51 years old and have celebrated over 32 years of being together.

Three children (ages: 6, 12, and 17) still live at home. Two live in Colorado, one lives out of country, one in Houston, one in our hometown, and 2 are in the army national guard. My mom and dad have 3 grandsons, 1 granddaughter, and 1 on the way.

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer about 5 years ago. My mother's family has a history of breast cancer. Two of her sisters have already passed away from cancer and another has been in remission now for nearly 10 years now. My mom had targeted radiation and a lumpectomy and she was cancer free for about 4 years. In the past 1 or 2 years her cancer has come back. She has received many treatments since then but it has still spread to at least 6 places in her breast that we know of (including the chest wall and cavity), to the fluid in her lungs (which is always there and sometimes has to be drained because it nearly drowns her), to both her ovaries, and to her bladder and/or abdomen (1 report says bladder and the other says abdomen).

My mom's convictions will not allow her to seek traditional treatments that destroy healthy cells and harm her body. First, do no harm is what she adheres to especially since she believes that her body is the temple of God and that she was given a responsibility to not damage it but to care for it. Many also suffer a great deal or even die from the traditional treatments themselves rather than from the cancer. If they do not die during treatment then numerous are at risk of dying a few years later due to a weakened body, organs, and immune system from radiation, chemotherapy or radical surgery (removing mass amounts of healthy cells or complete organs with the bad). The survival rate from these traditional treatments is surprisingly not that high.
Despite her convictions, my mom also has a few other medical conditions as well as some family history that already makes traditional treatments more dangerous for her.

My mother will tell you that she is not afraid to die. Of course she would love to live to watch her children and grandchildren grow but if the Lord calls her home to heaven with Him then she wants to go. If it is God’s plan for her to live then she will live no matter what she does. Although she says that doesn’t mean that she should do nothing to try to live. God gave us spiritual ways such as prayer which is more powerful than any human effort. He also gave us human ways to fight human illnesses that we should be diligent to seek out but all the mean while knowing that our hope doesn’t lie with them but with the Lord. She knows that God can heal her right now, but she believes that even if he doesn’t choose to then he is still God.

The problem my mom is finding with the human methods is the lack of doctors that will treat her through other means, being accepted for treatment, and trying to pay for them. Like traditional treatments, some are partially paid for by insurance and some are not covered at all. My mom has received more stress from doctors than from the cancer itself. These doctors have literally tried to force her to accept their plan for her life (through not treating her anymore and telling other doctors not to treat her). She will never do something to violate her convictions from God to benefit herself or even her family. If they have the know-how and the ability, the doctors should help her regardless of her personal and religious convictions to not receive traditional therapy. At the least, they should refer her to someone who can help and they should still treat her in the areas that they can. She is the one facing the cancer and death; it should be her decision how she wants to go about living out the rest of her life.

When it is all said and done, she needs to have peace of mind that she treated her cancer in the way that was best for her. She would have more regrets if she died while trying to treat the cancer through methods that she never wanted to try in the first place – methods that gave her unrest in her heart, mind, and spirit. We as her family, love and care for her with all of our heart and have differing views of how she should go about treatment, we express our concerns and facts from research that we have done but we all do our best to support her decisions and to be there for her through it all in any way that we are able.

Our prayer is that our mother will have peace of mind with the alternative treatments that she feels is right for her and for her faith. There are many other medical breakthroughs that doctors are using to treat cancer with much success.

We, her family, have helped as much as we can and will continue to do whatever we are able to for our mother’s life.

My dad has been a hard-working man all of his life on an offshore platform. He has done a wonderful job providing for his family. We are so appreciative of all that he has sacrificed for us. He is also the smartest man I know. But no matter how smart and how hard working, nothing can ease the worry that he has for the health and well-being of his wife – the mother of his children, for his family, for his children – who are facing the loss of their mom. Being the only provider for the family, he also can't help but be concerned for the already mounting medical bills and for the expenses to come. My dad’s health is poor as well. Although he is not a big man, he has high triglycerides and cholesterol. When doctors see how high, they are surprised that he is still alive. This entire situation frequently makes him physically ill.

The whole family is concerned about the issue of finance. This is our mom and my dad’s wife, who is worth more to us than all the money of the world. None of us want her to die because she didn’t have enough money for treatment. Sadly though, this is the situation that we currently face. We have given all that we could, my dad works as much as he can, but it still isn’t enough.

We ask that you first and foremost keep our mom and our family in your prayers. This is the most important and powerful aspect of your support in this battle.

We also ask that you please donate any amount that you are able to help pay for medical treatments to fight her cancer. Please read the post right before this one for more information about giving to my mom's cause.

You won’t receive a tax-deductible receipt but please know that your generosity will touch the lives of our family. You will make one woman's struggle against cancer a little easier. Through your giving, she can be confident that she is not alone – that many care for her.

Please don't forget to check out http://www.carepages.com/carepages/PaulaBellow for regular updates on my mom's condition and our family's sitation.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support.