Personal "thank you" to all my donors.
22 August 2019Kia Ora koutou,
Ngaa mihi nui. Thank you to everyone who has kindly and generously contributed to help me keep "Loving Life".
Finding out that you have been diagnosed with a terminal illness was heart-breaking and devastating. Then to find out drugs that could prolong my life would cost me $66,000, seemed totally unobtainable and soul destroying.
But because of amazing kind and generous people like you and self-funding, we have nearly achieved the totally impossible!
There are so many people I need to personally thank and are indebted to; friends, whanau, my Purego Cycling Team and complete strangers, you have all contributed to making this happen and have given me access to life prolonging drugs.
To all the amazing parents and staff at Richmond Road Primary School and Westmere School, arohanui from Tau and I for all your support and love, it has been tremendous.
ONLY ONE more month of $5,850 to go! Then the drug is finally funded in full by Pfizer the drug company who manufacture Ibrance. We can do this!
THE GREAT NEWS - while I have had some setbacks along the way and the journey has been harrowing at times, the best news is; "the drugs have done more than was expected"! My July CT scan when compared to the February CT scan, showed that all the tumors have decreased in size and some significantly. The one on my adrenal gland has disappeared completely! This is the best kind of news you can get as a terminal cancer patient.
These drugs have made a huge difference to my prognosis and without them, I may not even be here today. I know I am incredibly blessed.
I have immense sadness knowing so many women have gained their angel wings since I have been diagnosed. These women may still be alive had they had access to these cancer medications. Fly high "aku hoa ataahua", we will keep fighting for you.
It is criminal that Pharmac are making kiwis resort to Give A Little as the only means to get life saving drugs and that drug companies like Pfizer are holding kiwis to ransom. Come on Pharmac get it together, prioritise kiwis lives and negotiate better outcomes with these drugs companies.
So many people say to me, oh well you should have invested in health insurance. Well the fact is, I have had an NIB insurance policy for years. But what no-one at NIB bothers to highlight is the fact that most of their policies don't cover Medsafe (non-Pharmac approved) medication. So if you get a life threatening illness and need the latest medicine (which is available in most developed countries) you're on your own in NZ. Basically when it comes to funding of cancer drugs, my NIB's policy is not worth the paper the paper it is written on.
The Patient Voice Aotearoa will keep fighting and petitioning Pharmac, the Health Select Committee and government for better access to drugs and healthcare for all kiwis.
Join the Facebook group Patient Voice Aotearoa to support better healthcare for all kiwis.
#WeArePatientVoiceAotearoa #OurLivesMatter
Thank you again for everything you have done for me.
Arohanui Karen xxx
#LoveLife