Here for a good time and (hopefully) a little longer time

I’m now over one year into a terminal diagnosis with a prognosis of 1-2 years and I’m here again asking for your help. Last year I delayed chemo to travel, spend time with loved ones & hit my bucket list. Thanks to my last givealittle (https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/supporthayleykillalea) I was able to hit most items on my list.

I came back from my travel to do chemo (Doxorubicin) from May-Aug last year. My tumours had been stable for the last 6months post completing 6 cycles, but my most recent scan shows that 4 of them have doubled in size since the prior scan end of Nov. I’m still feeling well and not experiencing any symptoms so am keen to try and keep extending my life as much as I can at this stage. This coming Wednesday (23/04) I will be starting a new chemo (Trabectedin) which is not funded in NZ - I have been given a quote estimate of $8700/cycle - one cycle is 3 weeks and I can continue on this chemo until it no longer works, it gets too toxic, or I can no longer afford it - whichever comes first.

Once this stops working I may do another chemo (Gem Doce), or preferably, my oncologist is writing to the government to see if I can get approved for a targeted gene therapy which is around $13000/mon.

I am fortunate to have family helping towards paying for this, but as I’m sure you can imagine it’s not a burden I’d like to put fully on them, if possible. If you are in a position to help, any contribution would mean the world and help me spend more time with those I love.