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Meekah’s Brave Battle with Rare Cancer

  • Big milestones reached

      2 November 2024
    Posted by: Lizarn Swanepoel
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    Hi all. It's been a while since I've done an update, so here goes :)

    Meekah is doing really well. Her portocath has been removed, and she bounced back quickly after surgery. She's been weaned off her strong nerve pain medication and has not had any complaints of nerve pain since. She still gets sore in her legs and back, but that will get better as she gets stronger.

    She went back to school this term and shes extremely happy about that. Its a massive milestone for her and a wonderful experience to see her WALKING into school! The plan is that she will be doing a couple of hours on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Browns Bay School, then an hour at Northern Health School on a Tuesday and online with Northern Health School on a Thursday. We will see how she copes and adjusts this as necessary while she's regaining her physical and mental strength and capacity. She does physiotherapy once a week, and they are working on getting her fit and strengthening her fatigued posture from the massive surgery she had on her spine and the chemo and radiation therapy, which also weakened her posture.

    We trust she will continue to grow in strength as she takes on this next chapter.

    She will only see the oncologist again in January! So we are looking forward to no doctors or hospital for the rest of the year.

    We are incredibly grateful for everyone's support, prayers, and thoughts. Without you, we would not have been able to navigate this journey the way we did.

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  • Tteatment update

      7 September 2024
    Posted by: Lizarn Swanepoel

    Hey all. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated on this page. Altogether we have raised $8000, since the start of this page and which has been paid to us in monthly chunks. These funds have been so incredibly helpful, contributing towards many different needs during our journey with Meekah's diagnosis and treatment. We feel so blessed and will forever be grateful to everyone of you.

    Meekah has now finished her treatment. It feels almost unreal but she is now finished with both radiation and chemo treatment. She will continue to be monitored and checked up on often with the Northern Health School helping her transition back to school and her physiotherapy team working with her on strength and mobility.

    It's still a long road ahead, but this girl is tenacious and so resilient with the best, positive mindset.

    We look forward to sharing with you all that she gets up to and how she continues to reach her milestones.

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  • Update

      30 July 2024
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    Hey everyone, a little update for you all!

    Meekah has smashed through her 5th cycle of chemo with no issues. She's picked up the weight that the Oncology team wanted for her to stay healthy, and it helps that she has a very healthy appetite.

    She reached a major milestone last month with finishing the 6 week radiation therapy, and the treated skin on her back is healing up really well.

    She has been keeping busy with online classes with the Northern Health School and other sessions with the Child Cancer Foundation. She is really missing her friends and can't wait to return to school. We are working with her teachers to facilitate a couple of school visits, which she is very excited about.

    She will start her 6th chemo cycle in two weeks. And we can't be happier to have my parents arrive on the 2nd of August to come support us. We are so grateful and humbled by everyone's donations, without which we would not have been able to bring them to New Zealand.

    Meekah has collected over 220 beads of courage over the past couple of months, beads that speak of bumpy times, milestones, small wins, fighting through hardship, surgeries, blood transfusions, needle tricks, diagnosis, hospital stays, appointments and all the rest that have made up her journey this far. It's been tough, but we are tougher.

    Thanks for supporting us in all the different ways you show up.

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  • Update from Meekah’s Family

      28 May 2024
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    Meekah has had a good past two weeks, eating well and she is a bit more active. Tomorrow she will start her third cycle of chemo and also begin her radiation therapy, a 6-week course, 5 days a week with weekends off. We're incredibly grateful for everyone's donations and love. Nikita will compile all your lovely messages into a scrapbook for Meekah so she can look at it when she needs a reminder of how much she is loved!

    Thanks again x

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