Fighting cancer for Leo, for our family!

Hi, my name is Paul, but given you're here I'm assuming you already know that; and if you don't, thank you for visiting my page.

Update 20 Sept:

Thanks to all of you fantastic homo sapiens we have reached our revised target! Just wow. 💯❤️

Any additional funds we receive from now will go towards making memories as a family (we're going to see more of NZ as my health and treatment programme allows) and an education fund for Leonardo to make sure he has the best possible future.

My story:

In short, I'm 37, have a wonderful wife and six month old baby boy - see photos :) - and I've been diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer. We recently moved to Kerikeri so we can be closer to Leonardo's grandparents, and I go down to Whangarei every fortnight for treatment.

Without treatment, I wouldn't live to see Leonardo's first Christmas. I was given 3 months. With the chemotherapy I've now started I might be able to stick around until he goes to kindy.

My dream is to be there for him until he goes to school, and maybe even graduates. This dream is possible if I'm lucky and everything works, which it currently seems to be doing. But one must be a pragmatist, the reality is I likely have 1-3 years to enjoy life with my wonderful family and create as many memories as possible.

My biggest fear is that Leonardo won't remember his dad, something I never thought would happen. If you can spare anything to help us cover my treatment costs it would mean I get more time with my wife and son, whether that be a few extra months or many years.

We are doing everything we can so I'm around for Leo as long as possible. But unfortunately, this doesn't come free. We have $40,000 of costs over the next 6 months on top of the primary treatment provided by NZs health system. Thankfully my parents have covered $8k of private fees so far to speed up my treatment, but that leaves $32000 remaining. This $32k solely covers the purchase and administration of the unfunded Avastin. Avastin is part of the standard of care for my condition in Aus, UK, Europe, and the US, and it significantly improves the likelihood of a good outcome for me; but it is still unfunded in NZ.