Give Robyn a little love, courage & support.

Robyn is a wife, a mum, a sister, a nana, an auntie, a friend, a teacher and an inspiration. She is a vibrant, clever and courageous woman.

Since being diagnosed with secondary (metastatic) breast cancer in her bones in December 2014, Robyn has had three major surgeries, eighteen sessions of radiation, eleven months of chemotherapy and a constant plethora of other tests, procedures, treatments and drugs.

Robyn’s world has dramatically changed. Her ‘new norm’ is this battle with cancer and her fight is for survival.

We are here for two reasons:

1. Over the past three years, a lot of people have asked “how can we help?” and “how can we give a little?”. Well now’s the time … as Robyn’s new prescribed treatment is not funded in New Zealand, her medication costs are now over $7,000 per month.

2. But much more than the money, we know what an amazing boost it will be, for Robyn to feel the love. We think GiveALittle might provide people with a way to reach out with some warmth, support and some encouraging words.

It is with grateful hearts, we invite you to give a little support for Robyn.

Thank you for being part of her journey.

X With much love, from Robyn’s Family.

ROBYN’S CANCER STORY SO FAR …

Robyn can be described as a private woman; her journey so far has been fought quietly behind closed doors.

Here we share a snippet of her story with pride. Pride because Robyn faces this cancer with determination and bravery. She continues to appreciate all the reasons to smile and the joys in her world. With daily courage she stays positive and strong, maintaining her sense of humour and ‘Roby Sparkle’.

In November 2014, Robyn discovered a lump in her breast and just before Christmas, after having several tests, an MRI confirmed it was cancer. Robyn has always had regular mammograms, unfortunately mammogram testing and even a biopsy didn’t detect this cancer.

In January 2015, Robyn underwent surgery to remove her breast and 31 lymph nodes (of which 24 had cancer in them). Following this surgery, it was discovered the cancer was already on the war-path and had spread into her bones.

More surgeries followed, including a shoulder operation (March 2015) and a hip replacement (May 2015). Both were required to remove weakened cancerous bone which was replaced with plastic and metal parts, or a cement-like filler.

For the past three years, Robyn has had regular infusions of a bone strengthening drug and has tried many different hormone medications. Throughout 2016 and 2017 Robyn had chemotherapy every week, for eleven months with three different chemo drugs. Everyday Robyn takes handfuls of other medications to counteract the many nasty side effects of these treatments and for the bone & nerve pain she experiences.

Robyn has tried and tested all of these treatments with each varying success. Some have given her positive results and more time, others have not been as successful.

HOW YOU CAN HELP ROBYN CONTINUE HER BATTLE.

Over the past 3 years, Robyn and her family are incredibly grateful for the medication and treatments that have been available to her with private medical insurance and New Zealand’s publicly funded drugs. these have made much of her treatment over the past 3 years possible. But what is next?

In December Robyn started on the next prescribed treatment, a combination of Ibrance (Palbociclib) and Fulvestrant (Faslodex). Together these medications cost over $7,000 per month.

Unfortunately, they are not funded here in New Zealand. So Robyn will fund this treatment herself.

Like all of Robyn’s treatments so far, we don’t know how well this treatment will work or how long it could work for. But we do know one thing, we want to try.

If you know Robyn, you will know she finds it hard to ask for or accept help. In fact, you will often hear her say 'I can do it myself'. Despite this, it seemed appropriate at this point in her journey for us to share this opportunity. So that those of you who would like, can help with a comment of encouragement or a small donation.

CAN WE GIVE YOU A LITTLE, TOO?

If there is one piece of advice Robyn and her family could give to you, it is;

If you suspect something is not right in your body or with your health, don’t wait to see what happens. Get it checked out quickly. Ladies and gentleman, commit to your regular tests, smears and any medical screening for that matter. Because time is important. And the earlier you catch something sinister, the more options you have.

We suspect Robyn’s cancer was a quick mover before it was detected. And we know her journey could have been very different had the cancer been caught in her breast, before it spread into her bones.

A BIG THANK YOU.

Robyn still has a lot of living to live. We want her here with us for a long time yet. Time = opportunity, different treatments and maybe a cure for her presently incurable disease.

Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says “let’s do it all again tomorrow”. We know Robyn draws her courage from the love and support of those around her.

Thank you for being part of her journey.

There is always goodness in giving – No matter how big or how little.

We wish to express a big thank you, to those who have kindly given a little.

For more information about Cancer:

https://www.breastcancerfoundation.org.nz/

https://cancernz.org.nz