“My dad’s been the rock of our family forever,” Garnet Tetz’s daughter Tegan said. “He’s always been the person we go to for help.”
Garnet was diagnosed with Leukemia 19 years ago and has been struggling with his health ever since. In May 2019, the Vernon man was diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma — the second most common form of skin cancer, which began rapidly growing on his face and neck.
Following an invasive surgery around six weeks ago — which rendered him deaf in one ear — doctors had hoped to remove the cancerous cells from his skin, but tests came back showing the cancer was still present.
“We thought they had got it all,” Tegan Tetz said. “We were so happy and we thought it was just time to heal, but when the tests came back, it was the first time in my life I’ve ever seen him scared.”
“Through all the illnesses and surgeries, he’s been an absolute warrior,” she said. “It’s hard. It’s like watching the king of the castle fall and not ask for any help or complain… but you can tell, for the first time, he’s feeling defeated.”
But a holistic medical program in Mexico may be the answer, Tetz said. And a GoFundMe campaign has been started to help raise the money to send him to the integrative and intensive three-week cancer program at the state-of-the-art facility.
In only four days, the GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $3,000 for Garnet “the great.”
“What they try to do is identify the root cause of the disease while they provide healing support to the body,” she said.
Sanoviv’s cancer support program uses cutting-edge, science-based therapies and technology for treatments, but the holistic approach also includes support in nutrition and diet, supplementation, detoxification and utilizes natural medicine, the website reads.
“Absolutely Sanoviv could be the answer,” Tetz said, who had visited the facility herself for her own medical needs. “I absolutely believe it will 100 per cent help.”
“We just want to help him so bad because he’s always been there for us,” she said. “He still continues to bend over backwards for us. He always does everything he can to make sure we’re happy.”
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Caitlin.clow@vernonmorningstar.com
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