WELCOME
Thanks for taking the time to learn about the GEM project – a non-profit organization dedicated to making it easier for cancer patients to get alternative care.
- Sun, Sep 15MinneapolisSep 15, 2024, 11:00 AM – 2:00 PMMinneapolis, 2231 6th St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
ABOUT US
WHO WE ARE
We’re a collection of Emily’s family members and friends working to live out her dream of providing cancer patients with easier access to alternative care.
WHAT WE DO
Alternative care, integrative medicine, and healing modalities are all terms that revolve around the same concept – using holistic treatments to help fight cancer.
Typical treatments can include:
- Acupuncture and acupressure
- Aromatherapy
- Mind-body practices
- Dietary supplement counseling
- Nutrition counseling
- Reiki
- Sound therapy
- And many more
The GEM project centers on three pillars:
- Education: We aim to help educate both western medical systems and cancer patients themselves on the benefits of alternative care.
- Connection: Currently, many cancer patients struggle with ease and accessibility in trying to seek out alternative care options during their cancer treatment. One of our main goals is to find ways to help seamlessly connect cancer patients to these services.
- Advocacy: Even with the best, kindest doctors, being a patient in the medical system can often feel overwhelming. We hope to find ways to help patients advocate for and empower themselves with alternative care in their cancer journeys.
WHY WE DO IT
Emily Anne Nord was a gentle and beautiful wife, daughter, sister, family member and friend to many. In 2021, she was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of cancer: rhabdomyosarcoma.
She promptly began the top treatments available for her cancer. She first participated in a promising clinical trial which was ultimately unsuccessful. She then continued to undergo intensive rounds of chemotherapy and radiation throughout her battle with the disease. Emily was passionate about seeking alternative care options to supplement her westernized medicine treatments. However, she quickly found it was difficult to do so. Some Minnesotan health systems are further along than others in adopting integrative medicine practices to their cancer care, but she and her family found it was almost always difficult to integrate this care
into her treatment.
Emily spent a great deal of time on her own buried in medical books on alternative cancer remedies. Her family worked hard alongside her to find the best paths to alternative care locally available to her. Not only did Emily seek these options because of their potential benefits in fighting her cancer, but many alternative medicine practices are also scientifically proven to help reduce stress levels. Reducing stress levels in cancer patients is of the utmost importance, not only for mental health and peace, but for the harmful ways that stress can impact the body.
After two courageous years of fighting her disease, Emily passed away from rhabdomyosarcoma on September 15, 2023.
While Emily continued western medicine treatment including radiation up until two weeks before her passing, her friends and family cite the weekly acupuncture and reiki she received during the last few months of her care as some of her greatest comforts.
During her battle with cancer, Emily had a dream she shared with her husband Mike – that if she survived, she wanted to make it easier for cancer patients like her to integrate alternative care into their own cancer treatments.
Now, we at the GEM project are here to pick up Emily’s dream and help make it a reality for cancer patients near and far. Emily was the definition of grace. She was sweet, caring, intelligent, fiercely loving, joyful and passionate. You can’t help but smile when you think of her. A light in the world, her mother had always nicknamed her, Em, “the gem.” Please, join us in honoring her by in brightening the journey for cancer patients everywhere.