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People Say Life Can Change At Anytime - For Our Beautiful Mum It Did.

  • Mum's thriving against her cancer.

      21 July 2022

    Latest update on mum!

    On the 10th of June, Mum's doctor rang in the morning to tell us the news about one of her big scans. At this point, we weren't sure if the news was going to be good or bad. Thankfully the news that we got was amazing. Her cancer has shrunk by 50%. Mum's doctor is incredibly happy with where she is at with her cancer journey and it is at a good place.

    On the 28th of June it was mum's final chemotherapy round. She took this round like a champ once again and it all went really well. She is so happy that she no longer needs to do chemotherapy every three weeks and how fast these past 6 months of doing chemotherapy have gone. She couldn't thank all the nurses and doctors and all the support people enough. So thank you to all who have played a part in this journey from nurses, doctors, family, friends, etc.

    On the 30th of June, a few days after chemo a bit of a downside occurred and mum developed a bit of a cough making it extremely hard to breathe so she was given an inhaler, antibiotics, and more steroids. This meant mum was going to be on 19 different meds for the next 5 mornings.

    6th of July came round mum still couldn't shake off this nasty cough so she was then told she had to go into hospital which she was then later told she had to be admitted for a night to be monitored and to get chest x-rays, blood done and a CT Scan to see if she had any blood clots. The doctors were worried that it could have developed into pneumonia - thankfully it didn't. From her blood tests, they found that her blood count was really low even after 2 weeks of chemo which usually it builds back up by then but for some odd reason mums didn't. She was given more meds for this and her blood count slowly raised to normal within a few days. Which we are happy about.

    7th of July Mum was discharged out of the hospital and sent home with more meds and strictly told to stay in bed and rest so her body could recover. Mum recovered within a few days and we are all thankful for that.

    21st July Mum is doing a lot better and is doing really well. Currently waiting on her final big scan in Christchurch to see if there is any more progress on her cancer and if it's shrunk more or gone. Also to know the plan in the future whether or not she needs radiation.

    Lastly, mum would like to say that she really appreciates all of the nice supportive messages and everyone's help. A huge thank you to all the medical professionals for doing their job and doing an amazing job throughout all of mums visits to the hospital and doctors. She really couldn’t have had such success if it wasn’t for you guys!

    Now for mum let’s finish fight this beast we love you and you are so incredibly brave💚💚

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  • Mum's fight to beat the big C

      10 June 2022

    Hey guys, Sorry been a bit off the radar with updates due to mum's treatment being on hold as covid hit our house recently.

    Thought I would do a big update so everyone knows where she is at and what's happened these past few weeks.

    On the 3rd of May, Mum got an update from her doctor that after her 6th round of chemo she is able to get her pic line taken out on that day. 6-8 weeks after the 6th round of chemo she has a trip to Christchurch to get a PET scan, and depending on the outcome if the cancer is still there she will have 2 weeks of intense radiation daily. Fingers crossed she's cancer -free. Positive thoughts! <3

    On the 10th of May, our beautiful mum had her 4th round of chemotherapy. However, throughout her treatment, they had a bit of trouble with the fluid going in which meant it took much longer than usual but other than that it went well. This round hit mum pretty hard this time as she was very drained and tired, however, within a few days, she was back up to normal and feeling great!

    On the 23rd of may unfortunately covid hit our household, which was so unfortunate and poor timing as mum was due for one of her big scans and her second last chemotherapy round. This meant they were both pushed back by a week. This was a very stressful time for not only mum but everyone simply because we didn't want her to get covid with the chance of making things worse for her. We are very thankful that mum didn't get covid.

    On the 7th of June, this was one of mum's big days. In the morning she had a meeting with her doctor and she found out that she has lost another 3kgs. However, her doctor is still happy with how everything is going and where she is at. Followed by this mum had her 5th round of chemotherapy (2nd last round, one more to go! hoorayyyyy). Mum took this one really well apart from being extremely tired and nauseous and yuck feeling. For the past few days, she has been extremely tired and sickly but is still doing really well!

    Lastly, on the 9th of June mum had a big scan to see whether or not her cancer has shrunk. High hopes and positive thoughts it has. We are all hoping to get the results on Monday for this. And to mum no matter your outcome we still will love and support you and we will continue to support you right through your journey no matter how long it is. We love you so much xx

    Once again, thanks to everyone for all the support, messages, visits, and calls! We all appreciate it, especially mum. These have all played a massive part in her journey and fight to beat this cancer. It has provided mum with the courage to keep fighting this hell of a beast.

    So once again Thank you xx

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  • Our beautiful mum (Leeann) cancer update

      29 April 2022
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    Leeann (Mum) had her 3rd round of chemotherapy in Dunedin Hospital on the 19th of April. She has her first scan since her treatment has started coming up on the 5th of May, which is where we all find out whether or not her treatment is working. High hopes that it is working.

    During her 3rd round of chemotherapy, there was a little hiccup with her blood pressure dropping very low, as a result, the medical team had to slow one of the few bags of chemo down. Thankfully her blood pressure went back up. She has however started to lose some of her feeling in her fingertips also which is one of the side effects of her chemo. Sleep has been a bit of an issue however, last night was her first night in ages that she actually got a full night's sleep after her doctor prescribed sleeping meds.

    Her 4th round of chemotherapy is on the 10th of May and we wish mum all the best, we all know she will do it like a champ once again.

    Our family and Mum (Leeann) would once again like to express a massive thank you to all the people who have shown our mum support and the words of love, texts, messages, food, etc. <3

    Attached is a pic of her little chemo bunny that she takes to all her chemo rounds.

    To our beautiful mum, we love you and you've got this. Keep smashing cancer in the ass xx

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  • Mums cancer update!

      3 April 2022
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    Mum had her second round of chemotherapy on Tuesday 29th of March, she took it like a champ and had no breaks between the 4 different bags of chemo. Her first 2 days after chemo went really well and on the 3rd Day, she became real nauseous and was sleeping a lot, Day 4 came along and she was feeling like a box of birds again. Mum is now feeling good and is starting to feel a little bit normal again. The roller coaster ride continues as she prepares for round three of chemotherapy in 3 weeks' time.

    Mum attended a hair loss zoom meeting this week with the look good feel good cancer programme and she found it really helpful. In this zoom meeting, she got some tips on how to manage it, etc. She also got some products sent out from the look good feel good cancer programme to help her throughout her hair loss journey. She also got to talk to other cancer patients who are going through the same hair loss process as her and it made her feel not alone.

    She also had a makeup and skin zoom meeting with the look good feel good cancer programme again along with some other cancer patients and she found it so helpful as well.

    As most will know cancer is one of the scariest events of mums life so far, but it’s also brought the greatest gift other than life itself – it has shown mum how much love she has in her life. People consistently keep telling mum how amazing and strong she is because she truly is. Mum has said it’s those around her who are so incredible because they’re giving so much of themselves to help her through this big journey. Because of everyone's kindness and generosity it has made this journey so much easier.

    Once again Mum would like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone that has donated and shown their support.

    THANK YOU <3

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  • Mum's progress

      23 March 2022
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    Update On Leeann:

    This week started with being a bit emotional for mum due to her hair starting to fall out, but mum being the strong person she is, she overcame it and is starting to learn to accept it. She decided to cut her hair short, so it's not as traumatic when huge clumps come out even more. Mum's beautiful wig arrived today which is great! Perfect timing! She suits it really well and she loves it! (Attached is a picture of her wig.)

    Today (23rd of March) she had a doctor's appointment at the hospital and they are happy with how things are going at this stage. Her bone marrow biopsy came back negative - so that is great news and it hasn't spread any further. Her 2nd round of chemotherapy is at 8am on Tuesday where she will be there for about 4-5 hours doing her next round.

    She has had a great week at home resting and spending time with close loved ones.

    Once again, we would like to thank everyone for all the love, support and messages etc. <3

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  • Mum's journey update

      18 March 2022

    Little update:

    Mum had her first chemo round on the 8th of March and she took it like a champ. She has her good and bad days. Some days where she feels real Sick and some days where she is good. Her appetite has came back finally so she is now able to eat without everything tasting off. Her next chemotherapy round is in a few weeks.

    She had an appointment on Tuesday the 15th to look at wigs and she has picked out a lovely wig. She would like to thank the people at hair care for all their help!

    Her district nurse came one Wednesday 16th and cleaned up her pic line and did some bloods. The following day she got a call from the hospital saying she had to go into the hospital because her white blood cells were extremely low which is expected through chemotherapy but it should have been able to build up by now which it hadn’t. They put her in for a scan for her arm with the pic line to see if there was a blood clot causing the white blood cells to stay extremely low and sure enough it was a blood clot. She is now on blood thinners to try and fix this. This is only a little bump in mums journey but she is going to get through this.

    Lastly, on mum’s behalf, we would like to thank each and everyone for all their support and love through this. From the kind donations to all the lovely messages, etc. It has really made mum feel a little bit better. So thank you 😊

    So here’s to many more days of mum fighting like a champ 💗

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