Julia Wood’s 5th Cancer surgery, with her fight against GIST cancer

Hi there everyone! My name is Julia Wood. I’m 33 years old and have been living with stage 4 gastrointestinal stromal tumor, or GIST, for over 9 years. My subtype of GIST, SDHB deficient GIST, is extremely rare, and I inherited the SDHB gene from my momma. It accounts for less than 10% of the 3,000-6,000 GIST cases a year, so very very rare. I live in the fabulous Las Vegas with my amazing husband and am surrounded by my awesome immediate family. When I was 22, I started having some strange symptoms that led to an ultrasound, which led to an MRI, which led to the doctors discovering a 13cm, grapefruit-sized mass of unknown origin attached to my stomach. So I had my first surgery on February 7th, 2017, to remove the mass. February 7th also happens to be my and my now husband’s 5 year dating anniversary. Pathology came back, and that is when they discovered that the mass was cancer, stage 4 Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor or GIST. I was 23 years old. My only persistent symptom was heartburn. I went through some medical malpractice, which resulted in surgery number 2 in January 2019, where they had to remove my cancer-eroded gallbladder. The cancer reoccurred a few months later, and then 2 1/2 years and 3 treatments later, I had to have surgery number 3 to remove my spleen and some abdominal tumors, in a fully open abdominal surgery in June 2021, with my now amazing surgeon and GIST specialist at UC San Diego. I was on treatment, which kept the cancer under control for about 4 years until it was decided I would need surgery number 4 in September 2025, where a strong 6cm tumor was pressing into my liver and stomach, so they removed 1/4 of my liver and the tumor and margins. I’ve been off treatment and feeling great since then, this is awesome considering I’ve been on treatment for like 8 of the last 9 years, all making me sick in different ways from flu like to bedridden. Unfortunately I’ve tried every FDA approved treatment for GIST, and one experimental treatment, some worked or slowed it down a bit, but the cancer just keeps growing. My last 2 scans in Feb and April showed slow growth in 3 little tumors in the same area as my last tumor, in between my stomach and liver, so my surgeon is recommending surgery number 5 at UC San Diego. We’re scheduled for July 21st, 10 months after my last surgery. The past 2 surgeries, and now this one, require us to travel to San Diego from Las Vegas. We usually have to stay down there for 7-14 days depending on my recovery, so that involves a lengthy hotel stay. Somehow in the past, we’ve always managed these trips with credit cards, bonuses, and Brian being able to use vacation time so he still gets paid. But unfortunately, he has run out of vacation for the year, and we no longer own credit cards after climbing out of mountains of debt we accrued over the last decade. So I guess I’m finally asking for help, which if you know us, you know how hard that is for our stubborn selves, especially after 9 years of trying to deal with this on our own. We’ll be needing help with lodging and other expenses like my $1000 surgery co-pay and living on restaurant food for a bit. So if you can, no pressure, and thank you from the bottom of our hearts!