To donate to Evan and Katie’s cause, visit their gofundme page.
On April 12, Ball State senior Katie Ake will board a plane with her boyfriend, Evan Layman. They are headed to Tijuana, Mexico, in search of answers to Layman’s aggressive cancer, answers they feel the United States can’t give them.
At age 20, Layman was diagnosed with stage IV Pleomorphic Liposarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer. At the time of diagnosis, he had a primary tumor on his chest, with lesions found in his liver and spine.
A little over a year ago, neither had any idea of the immense challenges right around the corner; but through it all, their young but strong relationship and their unshakable positivity would get them through unimaginable difficulties.
The two had been friends for six or seven years, but had been dating for about a year at the time of diagnosis.
Tuesday, they hoped to finally begin to get the answers they have been searching so long for.
Ake vividly remembers the day Layman was diagnosed.
He was visiting her at Ball State from their hometown of LaPorte, Ind., in April 2015.
Though Layman had been feeling sick for about three months, no doctor had been able to diagnose him correctly, so he had continued going about his normal life.
She had attended class that day, but when she came back, something was very wrong.
“He was laying in my bed and he said, ‘Katie, I can’t breathe, I don’t know what’s going on, but I am not good, we need to go to the ER,’” she recalled.
After rushing him to the ER, they did several scans on Layman before delivering the devastating news bluntly.
“The nurse comes back and says, ‘You have cancer.’ Not even a doctor told us, no one politely told us, they just said it,” she said.
Ake recalls Layman breaking down at the news, while she tried to pull it together and become strong for him. However, this was only the beginning of a long, difficult month.
Layman was still having trouble breathing and the doctors did not yet know what kind of cancer he had. He stayed in Ball Memorial Hospital to undergo testing and his condition deteriorated rapidly.
“It got to the point where he got moved up to the ICU because he was breathing on one fourth of his lungs and the doctor didn’t know how much longer he had,” Ake said.
Ake was prepared for the worst. She says that while Layman doesn’t remember much from the hospital stay because of the heavy medication he was on, doctors warned her he probably wouldn’t get better.
She took on the role of caretaker while also trying to gather the passwords to his accounts and get everything in order.
Then, what Ake calls a miracle happened.
Layman had a moment of clarity in between his drug-induced fogginess and insisted that he needed to cough something up.
After he coughed, the doctor took a new scan in which Layman was breathing on three fourths of his lung capacity, instead of one fourth. Everyone was in shock.
“The doctor said, ‘This does not happen. And I thought, ‘Wow,’ and the doctor is literally jumping up and down, and he said, ‘This is amazing, this is a miracle.’ So that was the first miracle that happened to [Layman], and it was one of the best feelings ever because he had been near death,” Ake said.
After Layman pulled through his dark hour, the reality of living with cancer began to settle in.
Layman began intense chemotherapy that caused him to get sick often. Over the course of this first bout of treatment, he lost 60 pounds.
The chemotherapy lasted all summer until August 2015, when he decided to take a much-needed month off. The couple had been doing a lot of research on treatment options, and the issues of chemotherapy treatment rose to the surface.
After countless hours of research, they felt certain that chemotherapy and radiation were only weakening his body.
“We were looking into chemotherapy and what it does, how bad it is for you, and I said, ‘I don’t think you should do this anymore. If you want to live a strong, quality life, chemotherapy is just going to destroy it more,’” Ake said.
Layman expanded on his thoughts on chemotherapy through posts on his GoFundMe page.
“Many people do not truly understand the truth about cancer. Conventional treatment might prolong someone’s life, but most of the time cancer patients die from the effects of the treatment rather than the cancer itself,” he wrote. “Don’t get me wrong some people are cured through conventional treatments, but it’s not going to help me.”
Layman and Ake felt that conventional treatments in the American system were failing them and began searching for alternative options outside of the country.
In November 2015, Ake came across the Hope4Cancer center located in Tijuana, Mexico.
The center specializes in “safe, effective, and non-toxic treatment options,” according to their website.
After applying for the program, Ake and Layman were accepted, and felt sure this was the answer they were searching for.
The only problem, however, was finding the means to get there.
Because the center is outside of the United States, it doesn’t take American health insurance; the couple was facing a $45,000 price tag on Layman’s health.
Additionally, Ake’s family had reservations about her traveling abroad.
Despite all of these obstacles, the couple decided to push forward.
“There’s a lot of hope in Mexico. I asked if they have dealt with [Layman]’s type of cancer and they said, ‘We have, we’ve actually had some pretty good success rates.’ I said, ‘That’s amazing,’” she said.
The couple has managed to raise $30,000 of the $45,000 needed to cover Layman’s treatments. The rest will be covered short-term by a loan from Ake’s parents that she hopes will be paid off through continued fundraising efforts.
Additionally, they hope to raise money to cover the home treatments, physical therapists, and additional expected recovery costs.
Though their journey has been difficult, Layman and Ake find they are stronger than ever and have been learning to cherish the small moments they share together.
“This is one of the most amazing relationships I’ve ever been in because it’s solely based off strength and teamwork. One day during an argument he said, ‘Katie, I don’t want to spend my days like this. I don’t know how much longer I have and I’d rather be so happy with you than upset,’ and I said, ‘You’re really right.’ It’s changed my whole perspective on relationships with people because I try to make the best of everything now. He is my hero,” she said.
Layman’s positivity for the future shines through on his GoFundMe page.
Despite recent downturns in health, including a warning from his American doctor that his liver could fail within three months, he remains optimistic and hopeful for the journey ahead.
In a post made on April 5, he wrote, “Cancer does not equal death. Only God knows my plan and I won’t let a doctor put fear into me. I’ve had several miracles and have faith that God has amazing plans for me.”
Kim Weber, Ake’s friend and sorority sister in Alpha Gamma Delta, has been a source of support for the couple and has observed the growth they have both made over the past year.
“She has become such a stronger individual and has made more personal goals with school and other things to be able to do well with everything going on,” she said of Ake. “A huge thing both her and I have learned is to never take anyone or anything for granted.”
Ake’s other sorority sisters have also shown support by donating money toward their cause at weekly chapter meetings.
Read More
Yorktown downs Delta 47-46 in thriller
By David Moore / YesterdayYorktown takes down Delta in rivalry thriller 47-46
The Muncie Area Career Center is working to better educate community members
By Trinity Rea / YesterdayThrough Adult Education and Career and Technical Education (CTE) based learning, the Muncie Area Career Center is looking to help educate members of Delaware, Randolph and Blackford country.
Ball State women’s basketball runs out of gas against Columbia in the Battle 4 Atlantis
By Elijah Poe / 2 days ago“As hard as we played, we literally were running on fumes,” Ball State women's basketball head coach Brady Sallee said about the 69-62 loss to Columbia in the Battle 4 Atlantis.
