Thank you so very very much to everyone who has donated to this page and who has supported Penny in so many ways this last year. The love and support for both her and her family has been overwhelming. We are now closing this page as of today. Thank you once again.
Wow!! Penny's latest results are so exciting!. After just 6 treatments the cancer in her kidney, lungs, adrenal glands and other organs has really reduced. You can see this in the above picture of her lung scans. The left was before her first treatment and shows widespread metastases. Her latest scan on the right, shows almost normal lungs. On top of that, her overall wellbeing has vastly improved and she's getting back to normal day to day living and you might now even see her watching on at some events. So on the advice of her oncologist, she will continue the 2 year course of treatment to secure the best possible outcome.
As she heads down that road, she will have treatments less often which means they will be less expensive, but the costs are still very significant and despite changes to government funding, Penny doesn’t qualify. Her specific treatment isn’t covered and because she’s already on a treatment she’s not eligible to switch to a funded drug, which means it’s still “pay as you go”. Nonetheless we continue to hope and pray that it rolls on into a remarkable story
Lastly, Penny believes these results are certainly due to the unbelievable help, support and love she has received from so many people and she wouldn’t be where she is without it. It has given her many times, a reason to get out of bed and keep going. The lovely messages, phone calls and visits have been overwhelming but so beautiful and life saving.
So from Penny - THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!
Back in June we temporarily closed this page because Penny wanted to wait until her treatment was well underway and its effectiveness could be measured, before going ahead with further fundraising. Thanks to the collective generosity of everyone who donated so readily, she’s been able to fund almost three months of treatment which is amazing. It’s been a difficult time though for Penny and her family, some side effects have been brutal and there’s been some tough battles.
But now, we’re excited to let you know, this week, scans show the cancer in both her kidney and lungs has significantly reduced. This has flowed on to her general wellbeing with appetite and energy levels returning, along with first signs of weight gain. She’s gone from needing oxygen several time a day to not needing it at all.
This is so encouraging at this stage and we’re optimistic it’s the beginning of the path back to wellness. So on that basis, she is committed to continuing the treatment which if results remain positive, will be for at least a year or more.
But it’s still a long road, and the funding announced by the Government doesn’t cover her specific Keytruda and TKR drugs. This means she still needs to meet the many thousands of dollars of costs per treatment that lie ahead.
So many people have been part of this story so far and Penny is still overwhelmed by that. But, please if you’re able, continue to help and support her on the next leg of the journey that at this point promises so much.
As before, Penny wants everyone who has donated, sent beautiful messages or provided support in other ways, to know how grateful she is and how overwhelmed she continues to be by so many people's love and kindness.
Penny is now coming up to her third combination treatment of immunotherapy and TKR and it is fair to say the side effects have begun to kick in. As difficult as some of these are to manage, she is focussed on staying as strong as she can and is encouraged by some early positive signs. The donations received have been huge in helping to fund the first few therapies and will continue to be as the course of treatment progresses. However, the advice is that there will likely be no way to reliably measure the success of the treatment until around the six month point. On that basis, Penny would like to close this page for now and revisit later in the year if needed, once progress has been assessed and a decision made regarding continuing with an extended course of treatment.
So this page will no longer be active after 11:59pm on this Friday 21 June.
Of course if you want to continue to help and support Penny over the coming months, as I’m sure a lot of people will, please feel free to reach out to Penny herself, her family or close friends for guidance or updates.
Lastly there are no words to describe the value of the financial, practical and emotional support, everyone has been so generous in giving. Thank you all so very much!
Penny wants to thank everyone from the bottom of her heart for the generous donations and the very many messages of love and support she’s received. She is so grateful and is overwhelmed by the kind and caring response.
Penny's cancer has taken time to be specifically identified and while tests were ongoing she has undergone two sessions at a clinic in Auckland to boost her immune system and general wellbeing to give her the best chance of benefitting from a conventional treatment if it became an option.
Now her cancer has finally been identified as Rare Variant Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma which has spread to her lungs. Travelling overseas is ruled out for the time being, and there is still no funded treatment available in NZ. However, this definitive diagnosis means there is a treatment option available, but it is unfunded. It is a combination of Immunotherapy (including Keytruda), which is given every three weeks, supported by TKI Targeted Therapy drugs to be taken daily. She has elected to begin treatment this week.
This combination therapy has been shown to have significant success in reducing tumour sizes and growth in patients with similar cancers to Penny’s and we are all so hopeful it will prove to be the same for her. It is prescribed as a 12 month course of treatment.
Once again Penny, her family and close friends, thank everyone for their continued support as she begins this long course of treatment. We will keep you updated on her progress and wellbeing.
