Help Diana Kick Breast Cancer's Ass

$4,421 donated
Given by 53 generous donors in 7 weeks

Diana has been diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (Breast Cancer). As she starts her battle, we can help ease financial pressure.

Canterbury

Diana has just been diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. She is waiting on confirmation as to what stage it is, but it is not good. She will have a battle on her hands in the coming months.

With any serious health condition comes a multitude of additional costs that hospitals don't cover.

Diana lives in Christchurch, and has suffered through the 2011 quake, as well as battling a long term chronic pain condition called Fibromyalgia.

Funds raised will help with all extra costs associated with treatments/diagnostics that aren't funded, and additional costs as far as travel, prescriptions, supplements etc

Diana would also love to take her daughter Kitty away on a trip, so if the worst case scenario happens, they can have some happy memories together before Diana becomes more ill because of the disease and/or the treatment.

Diana is a beautiful soul, and I want to help support her through this awful journey. The only thing I can do is help by raising funds, to take at least some financial burden off her during this stressful time.

Please give generously. This is a battle that any one of us could be faced with during our life, and we would all hope, if faced with the same situation, that someone would reach out and help us.....

Kindness is magic.....

Let's help Diana kick this cancer's ass, for her, and for Kitty.

Ceara Prout's involvement (page creator)

I found a breast lump a few years ago, and went through the entire diagnostic process. I was one of the lucky women who's tumour was benign, and although I had to have it surgically removed because it was growing so fast - I am grateful every day that I dodged that bullet. Then my Aunty passed away from Ovarian Cancer early 2015.

Breast, Ovarian and Cervical cancers can be aggressive, and when diagnosed you need every ounce of strength to fight it. You certainly don't need to be worried about money on top of everything else, so..... with this cause very close to my heart, when I heard of Diana's diagnosis, I had to do something to help, and fundraising to ease that financial pressure was something I could do.

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Latest update

Diana's Update  4 April 2016

Diana wrote the following on her Facebook page, and gave me permission to update the page:

"Hi

My lovely friend Ceara arranged a fundraiser for me the moment she heard that I was proper ill. I'm always ill, but now my body really has it in for me.

I suffer from a number of chronic conditions which I have mostly learned to live with - it's actually surprising how much you can tolerate when you have little choice. But a few weeks ago I was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. Boob cancer. It's not worst case scenario, yet. But it's fairly serious. The tumour is a big one, it was hiding deep down in my fairly ample right nork, so it managed to get pretty damn huge before I brushed up against it one afternoon and COMPLETELY FREAKED OUT. Seriously I highly recommend never finding any extraneous lumps on yourself like this, it's like a heart attack and a mental breakdown rolled into the worst few moments of your life, because no matter how reasonable you try to be about it your brain starts yelling OH MY GOD WE'RE DYING at you and it's about all you can hear until doctors start saying things that imply you might actually be ok.

Or at least that's how it was for me - cancer and I do not have a good relationship. It has taken too many people I care about and caused too much pain in too many lives. I'm not afraid of dying, but I'm pretty much terrified of cancer.

So here I am, already a sickness beneficiary - because this lemon of a body had Fibromyalgia, 2 different types of Migraine & a Nerve Sheath Neoplasm long before it decided to throw cancer at me as well.

All is not lost, so far the follow up tests imply that Bill (that's my tumour, because KILL BILL) has quite surprisingly not started spreading to the four corners of my insides. My odds remain reasonably high for *recovery* (in the world of cancer words don't necessarily mean what they mean in the rest of the world.)

But on the road to recovery there will be Chemotherapy followed by Surgery (we await the results of the Chemo before we decide how far the surgery will go) then maybe more Chemo or Radiotherapy or both. Then 5 years on (probably) Tamoxifen. There will be a controlled diet (high protein). And given that I already spend a hideous amount of time lying down, there will be a hellish amount of lying down. I am SO VERY SICK OF LYING DOWN.

So far, even before treatment has started, life is more expensive. I can't skimp on food anymore I have to be careful what I'm eating. I'm having to transport myself more often - so many appointments. I have to have decent warm things for winter, I need to keep the house warm. Were it not for the kindness of my amazing friends, and the occasional stranger (amazing!!) I would already be overcome by the expense.

Add to this that both my daughter (who get's to be my part time caregiver, the lucky thing) and I are going to NEED to take relaxation and time out more seriously, just so that we don't explode under the weight of the extra stress and... Well lets just say every penny being raised here is very important to our continued well being. Every week that I can stay on the high protein diet, will help me to feel less awful. Every weekend that we can do something nice in will help us to keep from going mad. Every cold I don't catch because the house is properly kept warm is more days I don't have to spend in hospital.

And every single cent is appreciated with all our hearts."

As Diana has said above, every single cent is much appreciated!

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Latest donations

Edward Ursus
Edward Ursus on 09 Apr 2016
$100
Liz
Liz on 03 Apr 2016
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Fluffy
Fluffy on 03 Apr 2016
$50
Mr Salteena
Mr Salteena on 02 Apr 2016
$50
Karen the Hat
Karen the Hat on 02 Apr 2016
Thinking of you, I know far too many people with cancer right now!
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Who's involved?

Ceara Prout's avatar
Created by Ceara Prout
Diana Bidwell's avatar
Paying to a verified bank account of Diana Bidwell
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This campaign started on 29 Feb 2016 and ended on 19 Apr 2016.