Both of our parents rare cancer battle

Help Our Parents Fight an Extremely Rare Cancer Battle

We’ve been doing everything we can to fight for our mum, Maureen, who has been battling Multiple Myeloma — a rare and aggressive blood cancer. Sadly, the life-extending medicine she needs isn’t funded in New Zealand and comes at an extremely high cost.

I’m her son, Alexander, and I’ve left my long-term job to travel with Mum to China for 3 months, where she’ll undergo CAR-T treatment — an experimental therapy that comes with serious risks, but also the hope of more time with us.

Just days before we were due to leave, we received the most devastating news: our dad, Jeff, has also been diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma — the exact same cancer. This is extraordinarily rare. Statistically, only 0.3% of the world’s population has both parents affected — 1 in 10 million. his daughter, Brydie will care for him while we are away.

Even more heartbreaking, doctors at Nelson Hospital had known about Dad’s cancer for 18 months — but failed to inform him or put him on any urgent treatments. This delay has now made his cancer terminal.

Our family is incredibly close. What we are going through is beyond traumatic and extremely devestating — but we are trying to stay strong for each other.

Any donations will go directly toward ongoing treatment and care for both Mum and Dad — to give us more time together, and a chance to keep creating memories.

Thank you so much for your kindness and support. It truly means the world to us.

— Alexander and family