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Cherie - Mum of two with cancer needs your help!

  • Condolensces

      9 August 2024
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    Sadly Cherie passed away in the early hours of Wednesday morning. A funeral will take place on Wednesday 14th August at 12:30 at the Chapel at Maunu Crematorium. Address: 71 Cemetery Road Maunu Whangarei.

    Following the service you are welcome to join family and friends for an informal gathering to share a drink, stories and nibble. From 2pm, at the Whangarei Cruising Club at 212 Riverside Drive Whangarei.

    Robyn has asked that in lieu of flowers a donation to the North Haven Hospice would be appreciated. The love, care and support Cherie received was nothing short of amazing.

    Cherie’s favourite colour is red so you are welcome to honour her by wearing this colour ❤️

    If you have any questions please contact 021 646 951.

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  • Petition has been submitted

      31 July 2024
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    Watch from the beginning of the Health Committee Live stream at the top - I got to submit Cherie's petition this morning to get Pemigatinib funded. I had to do it in the sluice room of the hospital and as you can see I haven't washed my hair in a while.... Cross fingers we get a good result (MY GOD I WAS NERVOUS).

    https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/scl/health/news-archive/watch-public-meetings-of-the-health-committee/?fbclid=IwY2xjawEWODJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQjUGji6irU6jtfwYv9M_EnozaoF-xfQAJ8WktK31NbAqv_O-1N971r1gQ_aem_lbEic373UJwpcxGvQUGnEA

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  • Update on the petition!

      29 July 2024
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    Great news! The petition Lucy put through to encourage the government to allow Pemigatinib to be given for free to those with bile duct cancers, is about to be heard.

    Lucy will be submitting on Wednesday, 31 July from 9am – 9.10am via a Zoom link for the meeting which will be held at Bowen House, between the Health Committee will be meeting in Select Committee Room 1.

    If you are in Wellington, you can check to see if you can be a part of the meeting.

    For more information check out this petition - https://petitions.parliament.nz/f8c64670-e46a-48c2-a963-08dc186b8b6e

    You can watch the stream live here - https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/scl/health/news-archive/watch-public-meetings-of-the-health-committee/

    You can check out the schedule of meetings for the 31st here - https://selectcommittees.parliament.nz/schedule-of-meetings

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  • Update on the petition!

      3 July 2024

    Today I got an interesting email asking me to attend a hearing for the petition we sent to government for funding for pharmac. The hearing will last for 10 minutes and I need to say why it would be beneficial to pay for this drug.

    I will keep you posted on how it goes, hopefully it means future patients with this type of cancer can get the treatment for free.

    Meanwhile, Cherie is still raising money for her children's future and funeral costs. A few thousand has been deposited into her account and any future money will just go straight into her account.

    If you would like to help out, keep donating! Thanks so much everyone!

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  • We hit the 30 mark!

      27 May 2024

    Wow guys! Thanks so much for your kindness at such a difficult time. While most of that 30 grand has gone towards treatment, we are starting to make money now towards memories for Cherie and her family and any future costs that might come up. Thank you for helping, you are all amazing!

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  • Medication is not working

      10 May 2024
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    Thank you so much for your amazing outpouring of love. unfortunately, Cherie has been told that the medication is not working, which means she will not be continuing on to the sixth round. From here on in, any donations made will go to making memories with her family and the eventual funeral costs. Please join us in sending love and prayers to Cherie and her dear family. xx

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    • 13/05/2024 by Pam

      Thinking of you all as you continue this fight.

  • still need to raise 51000

      23 April 2024

    we still need to raise 51000 - realised I didn't calculate it properly.

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  • Our goal has decreased but we still need help!

      23 April 2024

    Thanks to Cherie's oncologist, Pharmac has agreed to start paying for her drug after 13 rounds... Cherie has just started her 5th round so she still has seven rounds before it will be paid for. Which means, we need another $51,000 instead of the huge amount we had before - that's half of what we were originally aiming for. We are also awaiting a reply about the petition we sent through. If that goes through, she will hopefully not have to pay, but for now, we have the goal of seven rounds! Please help with anything you can afford, or failing that, please share this! thank you.

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  • Money run out

      4 April 2024
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    Hi Guys! So the money has run out and Cherie is now on to her fourth round (which we managed to pay for by cobbling together resources) - which means we have three weeks to fundraise for the next round of meds which is another $7272.50. If you can help out in any way - please do. Also, some great news - Mark Cameron MP is bringing the petition to parliament this week at the next sitting date. We are asking the government to approve the cancer drug like it has been overseas so that pharmac can pay for it. Please pray for this as it would be lovely for us not to have to be frantically trying to find the money each three weeks.

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  • Three treatments down - a positive and a negative!

      25 March 2024

    Cherie has just about completed three treatments rounds now, but still needs another few rounds before she has an idea of what the future entails. We are currently petitioning to the government to get it covered for free but at the moment it is still 7272.50 per each three week round. If you can donate towards her next round that would help a lot. She is noticing her cancer markers are coming down and will be getting a scan soon to see how much of a difference its made. We will update you then!

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  • Please keep sharing! and donating (if you can) On to round three!

      24 February 2024
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    We have currently raised almost enough for those three weeks and the news is good! Her tumour markers have dropped from 3500 to 1950! Which means the treatment is working as it should.

    Cherie is well on to her second round of three weeks of treatment (at a whopping $7272.50 every three weeks for 14 precious pills! ($520 per pill). Cherie starts her third round in early March.

    We would like to carry on part these three weeks, so if you can PLEASE keep sharing this page and donate anything you can.

    We have also sent through a petition to the government for Pharmac to pay for the medication. Currently the government says that as it is an experimental drug, until the drug is approved, it can't be paid for - even though it has been approved in America and other countries.

    Please keep sharing and pray for a positive decision from Pharmac.

    Thanks so much for all your prayers, support and donations! It's helped Cherie so much!!

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  • Big jump in costs

      7 February 2024
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    Sorry guys but we just realised that it wasn't $7,272.50 per month, but actually per every three weeks - which is astronomical. This means it's actually $126,468.775 for a whole year. We only just realised it wasn't being dispensed monthly. So we have raised enough for nine weeks, almost, rather than three months. At the moment, Cherie is just about to start her fourth week. Which means please don't forget to sign that petition! and keep sharing if you can! https://petitions.parliament.nz/f8c64670-e46a-48c2-a963-08dc186b8b6e

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  • ALMOST THREE MONTHS!!!

      6 February 2024
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    We are just about to pay for Cherie's second prescription for her second month and the GST on the pills makes it an odd amount of $7272.50, which is why we have slightly changed the goal but GREAT News, we are almost up to THREE MONTHS in donations!!! $21,817.50 is about how much it will cost to pay for three months and we are almost there! By three months Cherie will be able to know how her bloods are going and whether the medication is working. For now, she is feeling a lot better now she is no longer on chemotherapy and we are all sending out positive vibes that these pills make her feel even better. You prayers, shares and donations are so appreciated and Cherie has been reading all the beautiful messages. Thanks so much for the help everyone!

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    • 07/02/2024 by Frances

      Much love to you and your children Cherie

      Following your journey with you

      🙏 for some relief with medication ❤️

  • Check out the Northland Age today

      26 January 2024

    Thank you to everyone who donated due to the story that came out today in the Northland Age. Check out the petition link too, as we are trying to petition the government for the meds to be free. Until then, please keep sharing updates if you can :) thank you - https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northland-age/news/whangarei-cancer-mum-buoyed-by-community-support-for-last-chance-drug/24B7M5H3EVAY5FQ5OLRMIDGSYM/

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  • Medication begins

      25 January 2024
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    So, Cherie got her meds in the post today. 14 unnassuming pills for a crazy $7,200 per month. Which makes them about $500 each!!! per pill!! Crazy stuff. So we are currently petitioning to get them free for any New Zealander who needs it but in the mean time she still needs at least three months worth, so please do keep sharing and donate if you can (anything helps) If you would like to sign the petition please do also thanks so much - https://petitions.parliament.nz/f8c64670-e46a-48c2-a963-08dc186b8b6e

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  • Please sign the petition!

      24 January 2024
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    Hello everyone, thanks to your kind donations, we now have two months worth of treatment but as this may be a long term solution for Cherie, and many others like her, we are petitioning to the government for funding and approval of the drug. https://petitions.parliament.nz/f8c64670-e46a-48c2-a963-08dc186b8b6e If you could please share this to your friends and sign this petition - it will be discussed in a month's time.

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  • Price increase

      17 January 2024

    So, we got the first invoice today and it was more than we were expecting. It's now $7,200 per month. But amazingly we managed to raise over $7,000 thanks to the beautiful gestures from everyone! So we have the first month paid for. If you can keep sharing this page that would help a lot too! Thanks everyone.

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  • WOW! A month of treatment already!

      8 January 2024
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    Wow! We are blown away at the generosity! We now have a month of treatment in funds.

    Cherie will be talking to her oncologist about the treatment and getting some questions answered, tomorrow.

    Please keep sharing and donate if you can, we would love to be able to do at least three months to start with so we can see how she is tracking along.

    Thanks so much again everyone! With the cost of living as it is, we are blown away by your kindness!!!

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