Bridgitte Fletcher-Jenssen - Stage 4 Melanoma

I find this very hard to write as I am a very private person but the time has come to ask for help.

I have stage 4 Melanoma. There is no stage 5 and there is no cure. Without treatment the average life expectancy for someone in stage 4 is 6-12 months.

The melanoma has now spread to my brain, kidney and abdomen as well as multiple lesions under my skin.

My friends have started this page for me as I need to start drug therapy which will cost between $175,000 and $240,000 per year depending on which option I choose. (More on the options below.) I have a few more weeks before I start one of these drugs as I have to have radiation to my brain first.

But let me tell you a bit more about myself. I am a 45 year old mother of 3 beautiful children. I also have severe endometriosis which left me infertile so it was a long and challenging road for my husband and I to achieve our family via adoption and home for life. We have a 4 year old, 8 year old and 17 year old and they are what I live for. I am determined not to leave them motherless any time soon – I have made radical changes to my lifestyle to try to fight this disease.

Cancer is a costly business and I really appreciate your support. Not only is money required for drug therapy but for the specific foods and supplements required to keep as healthy as possible and for alternative therapies like acupuncture. I am also investigating a visit to the Hoxsey Bio-Medical Clinic in Mexico for alternative natural therapy to complement the modern medical treatments.

Luckily there have been lots of advances in the drug treatments for melanoma. And as I have the B-RAF gene mutation, I am fortunate to have 2 drug routes open to me but none of them are covered under the govt health system (unlike in Australia, USA and UK for eg):

1. B-RAF Drug Treatment : Dabrafenib + Trametinib

– This is oral medication specifically for melanoma patients with the B-RAF gene mutation (that’s about 40% of us with melanoma).

– This has a 95% success rate of stabilising or reducing the melanoma growth. However, it’s effectiveness on average is only for 12-14 months.

– They cost approx. $20,000 per month.

2. Immunotherapy Drug Treatment : Pembrolizumab/Keytruda

- This involves 3 weekly transfusions via an IV line

- It’s showing great promise for melanoma (and other cancers) – this is the one you may have seen recently on TV, magazines etc and is being hailed as the new cancer breakthrough

- This has a success rate of 60-70% of stabilising or reducing melanoma growth

- The median duration of effectiveness has not been able to be measured yet as the drug is still in the early stages (it’s only been around for a few years) but they’re seeing some patients surviving for at least several years)

- A 3 week cycle of pembrolizumab costs $10,000-15,000 per patient. After 12 weeks, most patients will know whether the treatment is working, although how long treatment should be kept going is still unknown

- Those people in NZ who are currently on them are either on a trial or paying for them. Unfortunately I do not qualify for trials due to my Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Finally I’d just like to highlight some NZ melanoma statistics:

- New Zealand has the highest skin cancer rates in the world

- It’s the 4th most common cancer in NZ

- Approx 4000 people are diagnosed every year

- Almost one life a day is lost to melanoma

Depressing facts but if you get to melanoma early it is totally curable.

Early stage melanoma is just on the skin and if fully removed without any spreading in the lymph nodes or blood stream will be cured by surgery. Later stage melanoma that has spread from the skin to lymph nodes or internal organs is more difficult to treat and therefore more serious.

So I urge you all to be diligent in checking your skin regularly. And I mean every inch of it including your scalp, soles of your feet etc. Since 2009 when I found an early stage melanoma I had regular melanoma checks but my scalp was never checked (and I never realised it should be) and the melanoma occurred on the back of my neck in an existing mole in my hairline. So by the time it had grown big enough for me to notice it, it was too late.

Please, please, please don’t make it too late for yourself – get every inch of your skin checked every year (or every 6 months if you have a family history of melanoma). And make sure everyone else you love does the same too!

Take care and thank you for your generosity.