Bridget's road to cancer treatment

***Update 25/7/2021: Devastating diagnosis, NZ treatment urgently needed- Bridget has now had significant tumor growth and has started radiation and will follow up with another round of chemotherapy. She needs urgent dental treatment and alternative treatment to help the treatment shes receiving now. With radiation taking place in Wellington hospital they are making the trip in every day from Kapiti so needs funds for travel as well.***

Bridget is my sister in law and needs treatment as soon as possible to fight this cancer.

Bridget found a lump in her breast. Upon visiting a doctor she was told it was nothing to be worried about. She wisely sought a second opinion and within 24 hours was admitted for an emergency mastectomy.

The six years since have been a nightmare series of further misdiagnosis accompanied by multiple surgeries and life saving treatments that have had debilitating side effects.  It’s been a bloody rough ride.

On a routine check up after her last surgery to remove a tumour (that was dismissed for almost 9 months as scar tissue), things looked positive and there was hope this would be the end of the road and she could start healing and get her life back, but unfortunately this wasn’t the case and she got the news no one wants to hear. Her cancer had metastasised and was now incurable.

Along with the loss of her physical and mental well being, Bridget also lost her 18 year marriage and found herself in a financially unsupported situation, unable to work and without health insurance or life insurance and being a solo mother to her four children.

Our hope is to assist Bridget with immediate access to alternative treatments to complement the care she is currently getting through the public health system in an effort to pro-long her life as long as possible and for the time she has left to be quality time. Her personal wish is to be around long enough to see her young children into adulthood and equip them with the skills they’ll need to navigate life without her. She also wishes to start a charitable foundation to assist other woman in situations similar to hers that are also fighting this disease. This foundation will be her living legacy.

Every little bit counts here. We figured if 15,000 people gave one dollar we could make a big difference from small change.

This is just the beginning of our efforts to help Bridget. We have bigger goals to reach but are starting here. $10k of the money raised will go towards accessing immediate treatments for Bridget here in New Zealand. $5k will be dedicated to launching her charitable foundation 'Big Small Change… Making a big difference from small change'

We want to get Bridget to Tailand to get the treatment that will help her eliminate the cancer more and bring it back down to a stable manageable stage.

Bridget has been in contact with Verita Life in Thailand who use a range of integrative treatments.

Her treatment plan after her consult includes;

Local hyperthermia, using modern technology of radio frequency waves

Docetaxel, a particular low-dose chemotherapy with less side effects.

Metronomic Therapy.

High dose Vit C to boost the immune system.

Artesunate that attacks the cancer cells.

These combined with a diet plan, herbal medicines, we feel this will help Bridget fight against this cancer and give her the best quality of life with her loved ones.