For the Love of Glorie

If the year couldn't get any worse....

On Saturday 7th November 2020, the unthinkable occurred, our beautiful and vibrant Glorie, aged 34, broke the news of her Stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis to her family. Without family history, symptoms or underlying conditions, this came as a shock to us all.

Glorie has been with her hubby Nick for 16 years, married for 2 and is Mum to 2 gorgeous girls - Charlotte (15) and Danielle (13). She has been studying towards her Bachelor of Social Work through Massey University over the last 4 years, having to defer her final semester.

In July last year, Glorie started experiencing constant sciatica pain with initial x-rays indicating arthritis in her SI joint. In September, her condition deteriorated when she collapsed and couldn’t stand without intense pain. A CT scan to check for any fractures or torn muscles unexpectedly revealed multiple lytic lesions on her pelvic/hip bones. A second CT scan confirmed a mass sitting in her left lung and her liver.

Glorie and her family made the decision to return to NZ immediately, leaving Fiji, the place they had called home for the last 3 years. They arrived back in Auckland in October and she was transferred out of managed isolation to Auckland hospital where she underwent further medical examination and testing. On the 23rd of October, the Specialists confirmed she had Stage 4 lung adenocarcinoma metastatic cancer that had rapidly spread to her spine, bones, liver and lymph nodes.

The scans also showed significant damage to her pelvic, hip and femur bones to the extent that she was instructed to stay on bed rest in fear that she would fracture or break a bone by putting weight on it. On the 17th of November at 12pm she went into surgery for a bilateral total hip joint replacement, returning from surgery at 10pm that night.

Glorie so far has undergone 20 blood transfusions, 2 platelet transfusions, 1 bronchoscopy, a bilateral total hip joint replacement surgery and 2 rounds of chemotherapy (pemetrexed and carboplatin) and immunotherapy treatment (keytruda), amongst countless blood tests, scans and xrays over the last 2 months. Fortunately, preliminary blood results are showing significant improvements across her haemoglobin and platelet levels, without additional transfusions - indicating to us that something is working in her favour!

The immunotherapy drug proven effective against her type of cancer, in combination with chemo, is a privately funded treatment called keytruda, labelled by some as a “miracle” or “life-saving” drug. Glorie has been tested to see if keytruda is an appropriate treatment for her, and tests have shown that her condition is compatible with this treatment. Despite lung cancer being the most fatal cancer in NZ, keytruda is not funded in NZ and the privately funded cost sits at about $10,000 per treatment once every 3 weeks, whilst as a publicly funded drug in Australia, it costs NZ$41.70. Without private insurance, Glorie’s family have managed to cover the cost of the first two treatments at $20k, however at nearly $10k a treatment, we are asking for help to ease the financial burden and ensure she continues to have access to keytruda for as long as she needs it.

Glorie is someone who ALWAYS puts others before herself without a second thought. She is very clever, and overly caring as some say! She's the go-to person in our family, always fixing problems, helping solve issues, being the diplomatic member who brings everyone together. She shows LOVE to everyone through her actions and is a blessing to each individual she comes across. We are truly better people because of Glorie, 100% no doubt and can't imagine life without her, so we are asking for your help, please. What we need is your support to help fund more keytruda treatments to assist Glorie in her fight against cancer and to allow her to heal so she can continue to live a meaningful life with her family and friends!