Darren's CANCER journey

I Denise Morgan and my cousin Charmaine Taituha ( nee Lihou) from Otorohanga will be administrators of this fundraising account for my cousin in-law Darren Te Whakaroa Nesbitt (Snooky) and my cousin Karena Holt ( nee Lihou).

Darren has Oesophageal cancer (Adenocarcinoma) which has spread to the top of his bowel through to his stomach & lymph nodes.

Sadly Darren's Cancer is aggressive & he is currently sitting on borderline stage 4. The doctors have told Darren & Karena that they will be treating him with intense chemo & radiation. What was suppose to be a 12wk treatment they are hoping it will only entail 6wks if the tumour shrinks.

He will then go home for 4wks then return back to Adelaide Hospital for a 8hr operation (only if the chemo & radiation works).

Darren hasn’t worked since diagnosis due to where the tumour is as it rubs against his harness while shearing causing unbelievable discomfort.

Darren has been the sole income provider as my cousin Karena has been seriously ill also due to Lupus SLE (auto immune disease), fibromyalgia (extreme pain), heart & blood pressure problems.

We are asking for your generosity to help my family as Australian Centrelink has declined Darrens application for a benefit even though he is Australian and also declined my cousin Karena as his care-giver based on the fact she is a New Zealander.

Karena would have received a care-giver benefit but 2wks before they got the news of Darrens health they had to go home to New Zealand for Karena's granddaughters sudden passing. She was home for 9 days & for that reason only she was declined.

This has caused unnecessary stress on them both as they also have a 12yr old daughter to support at home.

Darren's treatment starts on Thursday 2nd January.

They have to drive nearly 5hrs to Adelaide for his treatment & thankfully this is all bulked billed.

However they need help to get transport to Adelaide, food as well as making payments on their rent too keep a roof over their heads.

After Darren finishes treatment his desire is to go to New Zealand where his fiancé Karena is from to live the rest of his time with her and family & to also try the RONGOA.

As you know this cancer is terminal so I plead with you all too please help them through their time of need.

Any contributions of money to help with trying to survive this ordeal and basically to live a reasonable standard of life with the time he has left, would be greatly appreciated by them both.