Lachie has an extremely rare and aggressive brain tumour. Help us to do everything we can for him in the precious time that we have left.
Auckland
Lachie is 8. He has a sparkle in his eyes & an overflowing personality. He is “big” in every sense of the word – full of energy, love & life.
On December 29, Lachie was diagnosed with a brain tumour that was later confirmed as DIPG. This is about the worst news any parent could hear: DIPG is an extremely rare, aggressive & lethal tumour, with an average life expectancy of less than a year.
https://dipg.org/dipg-facts/what-is-dipg/
Lachie is the son of Liesje & Andy Love & Harry’s big brother. He is a grandson to Emma & Bruce Donkin, grandson to Carole & Michael Love, nephew to Nikki Donkin, James & Erin Donkin, Grant & Philippa Love & John & Josie Love, a cousin, great grandson & friend to many. It is incomprehensible to think of our world without his big smile & big hugs.
The immediate future will be grueling. The financial toll will be huge, as Liesje & Andy are self-employed & can't rely on sick leave or employer support. We hope that this page will mitigate some of the financial stress & allow Lachie to explore all available treatment options, including any clinical trials. At the very least, we want Lachie to tick off some bucket list items while he still can.
We know that people want to help, but there is very little that can be done in a practical sense. If you do want to contribute via this page, then it would be a little something positive for Lachie & his family in the most horrendous of circumstances. Your support is hugely appreciated.
Liesje is my sister, Lachie is my nephew
Any donations will be used to alleviate the financial pressure on Liesje and Andy while they care for Lachie, to pursue all available treatment options, and to give Lachie the best experiences possible while he can still enjoy them.
We have another Givealittle page running for Lachie's bucket-list separately here https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/a-marathon-for-lachie-loves-bucket-list
Updates and page is closing (we think!) 15 November 2024
We just wanted to reach out and say that we are extremely, extremely grateful and overwhelmed by the support to date. Your donations have meant that we have been able to do so much over the last (almost) two years - a lot more than we thought we would be able to do - due to both your generous support and Lachie defying expectations! We are hoping for some more adventures soon and will be renovating a bathroom so that Lachie has somewhere he can bathe as at the moment that only bathroom that is accessible, isn't able to be used safetly by Lachie.
If you want to follow along for updates on how we are doing and out next adventures, our amazing friends, Nikki and Frank, are running the Queenstown Marathon for Lachie tomorrow. You can get an update on how they are doing here https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/a-marathon-for-lachie-loves-bucket-list and probably future updates if we have reached the time limit for this page :-)
Again, thank-you so much everyone, thanks to you Lachie has been in a supercar, swam with a dolphin, been to the Gold Coast and been on theme parks, had multiple trips and adventures around NZ, bought SO MANY nerf/X-shot guns (honestly, I think we need shares in Zuru) and lego (we had to get an extra bag on our last trip), taken his bestie away for a weekend, got a kitten, been able to access treatment that isn't funded and so much more. We couldn't have done it without you as our team behind us.
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