Young mother battles cancer

When Jill Moran travels to the University of Texas Health and Science Center Wednesday for 10 days of an experimental cancer treatment, she won’t worry about the cost of her air fare or housing in Houston or what she’ll do if insurance won’t cover the $1,000 a month cost of the immune system boosting injections that are part of her treatment protocol.

About 400 guests, including friends and classmates from Moran’s hometown of Braintree, raised more than $20,000 Sunday at a fundraiser at Massasoit Community College.

The event was organized by Tina Kelley, originally from Weymouth, and Laura Stearns, close friends of Moran’s at Central Baptist Church in Middleboro.

“The only thing I want is the gift of time,” said Moran, the 41-year-old mother of four young children who has been battling metastatic breast cancer for three years. “I have a new perspective now. Today is a blessing and tomorrow is a bonus. I think every day when I wake: I did it. I got the bonus.”

Born and raised in Braintree, Moran lived in Weymouth for several years while working as recreation director at the Ramblewood Apartments in Holbrook.

She now lives in Bridgewater with her husband Chris, an academic counselor at Massasoit Community College, and their children: Ashley Joy, 10; Christian, 8; Hope, 6; and Lauren, 4.

“I am a much nicer mother now,” said Moran, who home schools her own children and leads a home schooling co-op. “I’m calmer. I really take the time to listen when they talk. I bend down and listen to their words. We read more stories and cuddle more. Life is very precious.”

Moran first detected a lump in her breast in April, 2004 and had a double lumpectomy the following June to remove cancerous tumors from both breasts.

“They wanted to do a double mastectomy with radiation and chemotherapy. I wanted to try other ways first,” she said. “I was eating organic, juicing, taking vitamins, and getting exercise. I felt fantastic.”

In September, 2005, she traveled to Tijuana for three weeks, where her alternative treatments included hyperthermia, which raises the core body temperature to fever-range, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy, in which the body is exposed to 100 percent oxygen at greater than normal atmospheric pressures.

“I had phenomenal scans three months after,” Moran said. “Then I kind of did nothing, and that’s when things went awry. I was so exhausted from trying to do so many things. I thought, I got a good scan, I’m just living my life.”

When a scan the following year showed that the cancer had spread, Moran decided to pursue the hyperthermia therapy that had been so successful for her before.

She qualified for a clinical trial being conducted by Joan Bull, M.D., former senior investigator in the Division of Cancer Treatment at the National Cancer Institute and current director of the Division of Oncology at the University of Texas Medical School.

The experimental protocol uses hyperthermia treatments to raise the core body temperature to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for about six hours, followed by a regimen of low-dose chemotherapy and injections to boost the immune system.

All components, except the hyperthermia, are FDA approved for the treatment of cancer.

Dr. Bull established the UT-Houston research program in whole body hyperthermia in 1980.

“You never know what you will do until it happens to you,” said Moran, who once called a friend “a fruitcake” for choosing alternative treatments over traditional medical care. “You assume you know what you will do. Then it happens and you don’t know what to do. Every decision you make is based on the information in front of you, and you go forward from there.

“I looked fantastic that first year. It lifted up my spirits, and I felt a part of that process. Here I am three years later still walking the walk of battling cancer. So the next step is the University of Texas for whole body hyperthermia, and we’ll give that a try.”

Moran was born Jill Collins, the daughter of John and Theresa Collins. She grew up in Braintree with her brother David and sister Pamela. She attended the Morrison School and East Junior Middle School and graduated from Braintree High School in 1983.

At BHS, she was on the gymnastics and field hockey teams, the yearbook committee, the cheerleaders, and the pep squad. She was also an active member of the Saint Francis of Assisi Parish youth group.      

Among her BHS classmates attending the fundraiser Sunday were Selectman Charles Kokoros, Artie and Robin Colucia, and Carla Killelea Cummings, who won the grand prize drawing for a week on Martha’s Vineyard.

“This is a strange twist, too, but my girlfriend Phyllis from Brookville Baptist Church in Holbrook is married to Bob Bullock, who graduated with me from Braintree High School,” Moran said.

“When I was looking into my next treatment and the only place in the United States I could get the hyperthermia treatment was Houston, my husband said, ‘Didn’t Phyllis and Bob just move to Houston?’ They live 20 minutes from the hospital. Their family will be taking care of me while I’m there.”

Thanks to a dedicated network of church friends, Moran won’t worry either about who will help care for her four home schooled children while she’s away or how her husband Chris will be able to keep up with the household chores and demands of a young family.

“If the therapy works out, I’ll be continually gone once in a while, but because of them it’s not a worry of mine,” she said. “I say I’m leaving, and they say, ‘Okay. Get strong and come back for your kids.’”

“Our children are still pretty young, but as best they can, they’re trying to wrap their brains around this whole thing,” Chris Moran said. “They’ve heard Mom is sick, but in the meantime, she still makes grilled cheese sandwiches and looks fine. It's a little confusing.

“A lot of the women in the church get together in a situation like this, and they don’t call and ask ‘What can we do? How can we help?’ They just do it.

“Every morning, a couple of minivans converge on our house. They bring the kids back in the evening, and someone shows up with a meal. Our church family is just so wonderful."”

Laura Stearns said she and Tina Kelley decided to hold a fundraiser as well to help ease the family’s financial burden and allow Jill Moran to make treatment choices without worrying about the costs.

 Even the higher cost of organic food is a burden on a family with four children and one income, she said.

“Jill is a wonderful, giving, considerate, and compassionate person. She’s at home with her kids, and she’s been directing our home school co-op and planning activities for our kids while she’s been battling breast cancer,” Stearns said.

“We wanted her to be able to do other things that we know her body responded well to. The hyperbaric oxygen is approved for carbon dioxide poisoning and diabetes, but not for cancer, so insurance won’t pay for it. Jill could do it if she had the money.

“I said to Jill, ‘I can’t lie in bed and take your cancer treatments for you. This is something I need to do.’ We wanted her to be able to do what has worked best for her body.”

More information on Moran’s cancer treatments and fundraising efforts is available on the website her friend Tina Kelley established at www.JillMoran2007.com.

Checks payable to Jill Moran may be sent to Jill Moran Fundraiser; c/o CBC; P.O. Box 369; Middleboro, MA 02346.

She can be contacted through the website or by e-mail to JillMoran2007@aol.com.

Chris Moran asks for prayers for Jill.

“We are a Christian family. We strongly believe we are all in God’s hands and Jill is in God's hands,” he said. “We believe He would choose to heal her and lead us down the right path as far as care for her.”

With her new perspective, Jill Moran is enjoying the blessing of every new day and pursuing what she believes to be the best course for her.

“I'm sure eating right helps, and keeping a positive outlook really helps, too,” she said. “I always say, ‘Thank you for reading my scans. What’s the good news?’”

“I’m so blessed by a church family and a big God who loves me, and I’m trusting in Him.”