Eva McGauley Medical Treatment

Eva McGauley was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma, in early 2015.

Since then Eva has been through three different kinds of medical treatment; the usual chemo and radiotherapy as well as a new experimental procedure called ‘T-cell treatment’ late last year. While there have been good and bad periods throughout this exhaustive treatment they have dealt a heavy toll both physically and mentally on Eva and Kate (her Mum) throughout the last two years.

Earlier this year, having exhausted all the freely available resources that the public health system in New Zealand provides, the Oncologists at Wellington Hospital discussed a new drug called Keytruda. Keytruda has been given primarily to Melanoma (Skin Cancer) sufferers as well as Lung and Brain Cancer patients all with a good deal of success. Unfortunately, Keytruda is not available to all cancer patients under the New Zealand public-funded health system.

Here are a few examples of Keytruda stories in the NZ Press:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11926768

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11834087

If Eva wished to undergo Keytruda treatment she i.e. her family and friends would have to privately fund the treatment. So far many incredible people have donated enough for Eva to have received 4 rounds of Keytruda. We are all thrilled to say that the effects of the Keytruda treatment have been absolutely fantastic. As of Monday (16/Oct) the scan results have shown that there are no visible tumours and the treatment is working. This sadly does not mean that her cancer is cured – there is currently no cure for Metastatic Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma – but what this has done is to prolong life and given back to Eva and Kate a quality of life that has been missing for the past three years.

A number (quite literally hundreds of lovely people the world over) have asked how they could help and we thank you all for this. We didn’t want to ask for any donations until we were sure that the Keytruda was working, but safe to say it is and now we need your help, please!

We have targeted NZ$60,000 for this appeal because Merck Sharp & Dohme, the drug company that developed and markets Keytruda, has said that they will only charge private medical patients in New Zealand up to NZ$60,000 for the treatment after that it is ‘free’.

We know that many people have heart-breaking stories and valuable causes that they fundraise for and ask for donations towards. So why Eva? As many of you know when Eva was diagnosed with Cancer she didn’t take it lying down; instead, she saw it as a good excuse to try and crunch all her life’s goals into a vastly compressed timeframe. Since then she has raised over NZ $55,000 for Help Auckland (http://helpauckland.org.nz/) and $15,000 for her own charity EvasWish and has helped to raise the awareness of the truly awful statistics of sexual abuse here in New Zealand.

She has been an inspiration to many people including myself and my two daughters – her first cousins. If you want to see and learn more about her work, please see below URL and media stories.

http://www.evaswish.com/

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11766848

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/inspire-me/94216530/terminally-ill-teen-eva-mcgauley-poses-for-top-nz-fashion-label-to-fund-her-charity

We know that many of you have also contributed to Eva’s Wish and her charitable trust but we want to be clear that this Give-a-Little page is not for that. This money in its entirety will be targeted and used to fund the Keytruda treatment that Eva is having. Any additional money raised above the NZ$60,000 will be used by Kate to look after Eva.

Thank you for any donation you can make … little or large, it will make a difference.