Help me help women with Metastatic Breast Cancer

$6,322 donated

Given by 59 generous donors in one year

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To help women with incurable breast cancer access life-extending drugs that are currently unfunded.

Wellington

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My name is Kate Gibbs and I have metastatic breast cancer.

Unfortunately, there is no cure and there is only a 15% survival rate of 5 years.

I'm 53 years old and have 3 children and yes, I am too young to die so soon.

Currently, the best drugs available are not funded by Pharmac or insurance. I take Palbociclib and Letrazole - if I took Letrozole alone my oncologist tells me the median time of disease-free progression would be 10 months. ( i.e. before cancer becomes resistant and spreads to other organs or parts of the body) With Palbociclib that figure doubles to 20 months.

The catch is the drugs cost almost $6000 a month in NZ.

I'm one of the lucky ones who are in a position where I can fund my own treatment, Unfortunately, there are many other NZ women who can not.

Through this Givealittle page, I would like to leave behind a legacy of establishing a fund to help other NZ women afford this treatment. With the help of my Oncologist and nationwide support groups for women with incurable breast cancer, I plan to help fund other women who need these drugs

Kate Gibbs' involvement (page creator)

I am self-funding my own cancer drugs which will extend my life. I am lucky in that I can afford to do this and I would like to raise funds for other ladies who need help.

Use of funds

The funds will be held by myself initially until a group bank account has been set up. Funds will be used to help women with incurable breast cancer across New Zealand.