Please help Mon fight on to 40. And beyond!

Hi my name is Mon Macdonald.

My friends and workmates call me Mighty Mon because of the way I have fought and beaten cancer twice with determination and optimism…

Now I need to fight again.

Two weeks ago, we learned that I’ve been diagnosed with Cancer. Again. They call it Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML). My third cancer in seven years.

Left untreated with this Leukaemia, my specialists have said I would have only a few months to live. But that’s not enough time for me. I want to see next year. I want to travel. I want to fight until 40… at least.

Why do I need your help?

Unfortunately, intensive chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant won’t work for me. Apparently, my Leukaemia was caused by my previous chemotherapy treatments – when I beat ovarian cancer in 2016 or breast cancer in 2010.

The only treatment option at the moment is a Pharmac-approved drug called Vidaza. This should delay the effects of the Leukaemia for up to 6 months and maybe even two years. And with the way cancer treatments are developing, two years is a very long time. Who knows what new options there will be then?

I'd dearly love to make it to my fortieth birthday and I'd love to see the Queenstown Remarkables in Autumn. I want to continue with my job for as long as possible and of course spend as much precious time as I can with my husband of 16 years, my close friends & family.

Thank you for helping me do that.