Helping Hollie Fund #doingitforhollie
Helping Hollie and her family fight this fight that no child or family should ever have to go through. #doingitforhollie
AucklandBeautiful 6-year-old Hollie Beattie is currently in the middle of the fight of her life.
In July 2018 Hollie was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of cancer called Neuroblastoma.
Since then, Hollie and her family, Dad John, Mum Jo and Big Brother William have been on the most harrowing roller coaster of a journey.
After an initial round of chemotherapy and surgery to remove the main tumor, it was devastating for them to hear that the repeat tests showed the treatment had failed to make an impact on the disease in her bone marrow. It was a heart-breaking outcome.
As a result, Hollie was unable to begin the first stem cell transplant that had been scheduled for January 2019, and after an agonizing week waiting for approval from the USA for an immunotherapy drug, she began a new set of combined chemo and immunotherapy cycles on the 19th December, and made it home just in time for Christmas after the first round.
Following these rounds of treatment, Hollie has also now completed two stem cell transplants which included two sets of four week stays in Starship hospital, with Hollie in isolation each time.
Most recently, Hollie has completed additional weeks of radiation treatment, and is now in the middle of her second round of immunotherapy treatment, which will take her through to January 2020.
Hollie is incredible, her resilience is awe inspiring and her courage is unfathomable. She is always the first to offer out cuddles of love and smiles of happiness, regardless of what she has been going through, and she has been through a lot.
John, Jo and William are stoic and have created a positive and loving outlook around what is a truly grueling time for them all.
The family is strong, but the future is still somewhat uncertain for them, and that is where we come in.
A donation of any size, be it small or large, will enable John and Jo to spend every minute possible making the most out of life for both Hollie and William, and this is all that they want to do.
Thank you for taking the time to read their story.
Salome Schlebusch's involvement (page creator)
Friends of the family
Use of funds
As a striving young Auckland family, Jo and John are both working full time but we know that over this extremely difficult time there will be additional and unexpected expenses. This Givealittle page will help them to keep on keeping on.
Latest update
Lockdown update 28 April 2020
As we went into lockdown Hollie completed another round of testing. The hospital has become a different place, and we are pleased to have been able to stay home for the last 4 weeks. Unlike friends and family we’re more used to the world of lockdown and restriction, having spent a large part of the last 2 years keeping Hollie safe from more every day germs! We have really enjoyed the time in our bubble, except maybe some moments during home schooling ;) Hollie has thrived being at home; has had the most fun playing with her brother; and has even begun to eat normally at last!!
Hollie’s last scans still show residual disease in her left tibia, but her bone marrow results show no active cancer cells. Another small step in the right direction. She is being scheduled for more detailed scans of her left leg in the next few weeks. Following review of these and more detailed discussions with the orthopaedic surgeons, they will be considering removal of the affected bone as the next step. Hopefully this will mean that we can keep this disease at bay for a little longer. We’ll keep you posted, kia kaha.
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Report this pageThis page was created on 10 Aug 2018 and closes on 15 Aug 2020.