For those who would like to come and celebrate Alice's life with us, her funeral will be held at Gail's of Tamahere in Hamilton at 1pm on Friday 5th April. The dress code is colourful.
It is with a heavy heart that we announce that Alice has lost her battle with melanoma. She fought hard and had a smile on her face until the end. She will be sorely missed and never forgotten. Details of the funeral will follow for those who want to celebrate the wonderful life of Alice with us.
Thanks again everyone for the donations over the last few months, you have exceeded our expectations. Thanks for the support and all the food donations, it all makes a big difference.
The last few months have had a few ups and downs for Alice. Since she started her treatment she has had less pain around her kidney and has had over a month without taking painkillers. The medication also has side affects, and she has a lot of nausea.
She recently had another scan which showed mixed results. The melanoma in her lungs has shrunk, but the melanoma in her kidney has grown slightly and there are new metastasis in her liver and bladder.
Alice has been making the most of the summer, spending lots of time with her family and friends building memories. We went on a camping trip at the beach last week which was good fun.
Thanks everyone for the kind donations, we have been overwhelmed by the response. Alice is starting her new treatment this week which involves a infusion every couple of weeks and pills daily. She also had a fun trip away in Taupo last weekend with her family where we had lots of laughs and made some great memories.
Alice recently had a full body scan which showed that the melanoma has spread further from her kidney and is now in her liver and lungs. This means that the immunotherapy treatment she has been receiving for the last 5 months is no longer working.
Alice is now focussed on making the most of the time she has left and enjoying every possible moment with her young family. She is still able to do a lot of things at the moment but we don’t know how long this will last.
Alice would like to thank everyone for their generous contributions so far. We are asking for further donations so that Alice can have some memorable experiences with her family over the next few months. She also wants to make sure her two young boys are set up as best as they can for their future.
We are also trying one final medication option (Lenvatinib plus Pembrolizumab/Keytruda) which is unfunded and costs around $15k per month. Although it only has a small chance of prolonging Alice's life, we are still hopeful it will give her more time with her family.
Alice initially responded well to the targeted therapy, but unfortunately after a couple of months the treatment has stopped working. The treatment did work for a little while and she was able to regain some of her strength.
Alice has now started a new different treatment which is a combination of two immunotherapy drugs, one which is government funded and one which isn't. The charity (The Charity Golf Day) which covered the costs of her previous treatment has very kindly offered to also cover the costs of the new treatment. We hope that the immunotherapy works and Alice's condition improves soon.
Alice has now had her first round of targeted therapy treatment. She has responded well and has been able to leave the hospital and go home. She is still tired and needs lots of rest, but she is enjoying her time at home with her young family.
A charity has now offered to cover the costs of the unfunded medication. We are very thankful for this and will give further updates on this when it is confirmed.
