Elana's Cancer Treatment Fundraiser
No amount is too small. Every little bit will help.
Auckland
Hi, I'm Elana. I have Adenocarcinoma stage 4 lung cancer that is ALK-positive.
I got my cancer diagnosis on the 26th of February 2021 and immediately embarked on my healing journey knowing that I didn't want to live with fear.
I was started on targeted drugs in March 2021 and I quickly reached remission (no evidence of disease), with life continuing almost unchanged for me post-diagnosis.
Then a few months later I started feeling unwell again. A CT scan confirmed new tumours in my liver and nodes in my chest, and fear flooded my mind. I thought I was going to die whenever I felt a slight ache or pain.
The hardest part of my healing journey has not been the physical but the ever-present fear, grief and loneliness.
I started a new (second) targeted drug therapy that began working and those two sets of drugs gave me 13 months of hope, joy and precious time to recalibrate my life - until February this year when my cancer progressed again.
This time my left lung (the primary tumour) seems to be active with cancer and I need a different type of treatment. My Oncologist is recommending a Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy combination that he believes has the strongest chance of saving my life. 13 cycles of chemo. 1 cycle every 3 weeks.
And here we are. We need to ask for financial assistance as New Zealand does not yet provide funding for Immunotherapy. And nor does our top-notch medical insurance!
Bianca Swanepoel's involvement (page creator)
Friend.
Use of funds
Any and all money raised will be put towards Elana's medical bills for her Immunotherapy.
Other page links
Latest update
Chemo journey #2 7 September 2022
'For a week after chemo, you are cytotoxic’. My oncology nurse shared after round 1 in July and explains I need to take extra care to protect other family members and people from the toxins of chemo. Double flush the toilet, wash hands, wash towels I’ve used and so forth. I never knew this was a thing.😷🥹
Overall, the toxicity affects me terribly. My brain takes on a life of its own - plays repetitive songs and torments me with intrusive thoughts and I can’t get it to shut down to rest or sleep. My body craves all the foods I’m needing to reduce to starve the cancer: sugar, red meat and too much fat. I am thirsty ALL the time which keeps me up at night🫣. Busy, busy, busy🥵 Tiresome!
Emotional energy is at an all-time low. I’m spending my time being STILL. I reduce social media time, communication and tv time to the bare minimum. I can’t deal with external stimulation. I seek only STILLNESS.
Every 3rd week I receive treatment. 3 drips - 3 drugs, taking about 3 hours, 9h-12h. Followed by a week of downtime mostly spent sleeping, resting, staying home and staying still. We control NAUSEA and vomiting with a subcutaneous pump that is inserted through a small cannula into my tummy fat. The pump delivers anti-nausea meds 24/7 for 5 days. That seems to stabilise the nausea and gets me through week 1 post-chemo.
AND🔥🔥🔥
My healing is happening! The scans after 2 rounds show overall no activity. Cancer is not active or progressed 👏😌🙏🏻 and we have a right lung pleura on a watching brief for the next while.
AND 🌻🌻🌻
I can walk up all 15 stairs to my bedroom breathing normally 🫁
I can walk along the beach and breathe
I can sleep on both my sides and my back and breathe normally
I don’t need 4 pillows at night to prop me up, down to 1 pillow
I can finish a sentence and not be out of breath
I can go to a restaurant and eat (no nausea)
I can go to a shopping mall and walk the mall🛒
I can cook a meal for my family again
I can clean the kitchen again (when I’m in the mood🤣😂)
Life is returning to me.
Hope is even stronger
My heart is filling with new faith and trust
I am grateful🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼
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