Please help Pete Saunders who has Acute Myeloid Leukaemia
Helping Pete Saunders who has Acute Myeloid Leukaemia
Wellington
At the end of April Peter Saunders was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) with FLT-3 and NPM1 mutations. For those of you who don't know much about Leukaemia, this is definitely one of the nasty ones, and the odds associated with survival are generally considered to be poor.
Luckily there are some possibly life-saving or life prolonging medicines available to Pete. Sadly they are not currently funded by Pharmac in NZ and they carry a price-tag which would make most of us shudder.
For those of you who have not met Pete's family, he has two exuberant boys aged four and five and a wonderful wife. With the future uncertain for Pete's family, and with the cost of medicinal treatment being equal to a small mortgage, we have decided to start a Give a little donation facility for Pete.
Those of you who know Pete will know that he is always the first to leap into action to support others when disaster strikes. He has time and time again proved his humanity in a professional culture which is often guilty of placing higher values on success and status instead.
Many of us have asked ourselves what we would do to support family and loved ones who have been diagnosed with a potentially terminal illness. The correct answer is whatever it takes, please donate whatever you think is appropriate to support Pete and his family.
We all wish him the best possible odds and a speedy recovery.
Emma Cowell's involvement (page creator)
Close friend
Use of funds
To help fund the potentially life-saving non-funded medications Midostaurin/Xospata (Gilteritinib) @ $44,000 per month for at least 6 months ($264,000)
Other page links
Latest update
47 days on... 12 June 2022
It’s been 47 days since Pete was diagnosed with AML
Pete has just finished his 2nd round of chemotherapy following some brief but quality time with his family at home.
As well as the chemotherapy Pete has almost completed the first month of the unfunded drug Midostaurin, (a 1st generation FLT3 inhibitor). Although this comes with many unwanted side-effects the latest test results have been positive. There is no longer any trace of the cancer mutations that Pete was originally diagnosed with - proving that the drugs are doing their job.
The next treatment is a bone marrow transplant, for which Pete is awaiting results of a donor match. This comes with risk and is a procedure that Pete is not looking forward to, but all going well this will be scheduled for the end of July.
Following the recovery from the transplant Pete will start on the unfunded drug Xospata (a 2nd generation FLT3 inhibitor) which is due to arrive in NZ in 10 days’ time. The medical advice has been that Pete should stay on this drug for 2 years which means approx. $500,000 is needed.
Please keep sharing Pete’s story and this give a little page on your various social media platforms. The messages of support, sharing of personal experiences are all appreciated, together we need to do all that we can so that Pete continues to get the support and treatment that he needs.
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