Bridget’s battle against cancer - back into the trenches she goes

Thank you to all you beautiful people for your generous gifts, we are so immensely grateful - it really does make all the difference.

I underwent a massive 8-hour pelvic exenteration surgery on 10 April in Christchurch, which included a partial sacrectomy (removing my tailbone), abdominoperineal resection (I now have what's termed a Barbie butt and a permanent

colostomy), a bilateral salipingo-oophorectomy (removal of ovaries & fallopian tubes), and removal of other major bits like the left pelvic side wall and levator muscle - I'm becoming an anatomy/medical/oncology specialist by proxy!

Very brutal, very gruelling, with a 4-week stay in hospital (thanks to my husband, sister and mother who took it in turns to stay with me). But also, successful! The surgeons were satisfied they got clear margins, histology shows the cancer recurrence was contained, and now the hope is that I can walk away from this after a long, slow recovery.

I am home now and healing well, with amazing support from my family, friends and community, and incredible ongoing care from my local surgical and medical teams.

Here I am, a bit thinner, a bit wan, but standing!

Heartfelt appreciation to you all for creating some ease in this process and for the aroha and awhi.

Ngā mihi nui, alles liebe,

Bridie & Nils