Help Give Cheryl a Chance to Beat Stage 4 Melanoma!
Cheryl needs $200,000 to go on the breakthrough immunotherapy drug Pembrolizumab to treat her stage 4 terminal melanoma.
Auckland
Cheryl is a midwife in West Auckland who has 5 children and 8 grandchildren. She had surgery in October 2014 to remove metastatic melanoma from her brain. In June this year, she found out the tumour had grown back and was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma - terminal, and with under a year to live.
She had another round of brain surgery in September and is due to start radiation this week. This could only buy her a matter of months.
If she tries the Pembrolizumab and the cancer responds, it could give her years.
Pharmac does not currently fund Pembrolizumab here in New Zealand and while they may do so in the future, the likelihood is that it will be too late for our Mum.
It comes with a price tag of $200,000 - way out of reach for most people.
Mum featured on the show Sunday last night (November 8) - you can watch her story on demand.
Our Mum is such an amazing person - she is so caring and giving to others and now it's time to give back to her!
Please support our cause and help us get Mum the treatment she needs.
You can also sign the petition to get Keytruda (pembrolizumab) funded in New Zealand here:
https://www.change.org/p/pharmac-fund-keytruda-for-cancer-patients
Kizzie Neale's involvement (page creator)
I am involved with this cause as Cheryl is my Mum. We want her around for as long as we can get!
Latest update
A positive update.... 19 January 2016
Just before Christmas, we recieved the best news - Mum's tumour in her lung and the ones in her groin have SHRUNK! The MRI showed no evidence of disease in her brain either, and no new spots anywhere else!
As you can all imagine, we were all on tenterhooks waiting for the results of the MRI and i can honestly say, not one of us expected news like this. It is such a great relief to know that for now, she has bought herself more time with both the alternative and conventional options for treatment she has opted to undergo. Make no mistake, we are all well aware that this current state may not last, but for now we are celebrating the victories and I think we can all agree that this is definitely one to be celebrated!
Thank you again to all who donated and shared this page. The funds raised are an enormous weight off our shoulders for when the time comes for Mum to try the pembrolizumab.
For those who were getting signatures for the Keytruda petition run by Leisa Renwick, please be aware they are needed by the February 2 cut off date so don't forget to send them in!
Thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts x
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