Help Mel Win Her Battle With Ovarian Cancer
Northland
By the start of 2017 Mel had come through a period of personal challenges renewed, refreshed and ready for the next chapter of her life, finally focussed on herself and her growth. She had dealt with the end of a relationship, the sale of her home, had gone through an amazing journey toward better health and was happy and eager to focus on her friends, her career, and her love of travel. What instead lay ahead for Mel was the biggest challenge of her life.
In April of 2017, Mel was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The statistics of what has happened since are staggering: since her initial diagnosis Mel has had to endure 10-hour surgeries, six rounds of chemotherapy in 2017, another four rounds of chemotherapy in 2018, has faced the loss of her hair twice, experienced two other complicated surgeries and is once again staring ahead with determination at the prospect of yet more rounds of chemotherapy, coupled with an un-funded and expensive course of medication.
We need your help. We need your help to fund this for her and help her cover her day-to-day expenses while she is unable to work. Mel is fighting, and will continue to fight, but she has exhausted her ability to fund her treatment. She has won every battle so far, but that means her current treatment options have been exhausted also. What is required now is medication that is un-funded in New Zealand. For her next battle, Mel will need $60,000 to fund a treatment of Avastin to be had in conjunction with the next rounds of chemotherapy.
What is staggering about the list of treatments Mel has endured is not the size and scope of it all, the absolute marathon she is racing both physically and emotionally, but in how she has faced it. Whether it is counted in the kilometres clocked in her little Suzuki Swift travelling between her Whangarei home and treatments in Auckland, in coffee cups shared with her colleagues and clients at House of Travel, or the obscene financial toll this fight has taken, the consistently awe-inspiring thing about Mel is that through all of this she has not lost her wicked sense of humour, her love of life, or the light that she brings to those around her. When her focus shifted from the bright future she was planning to the day-to-day fight she is enduring, when her financial situation meant that she had to drag herself out of bed and in to work, she never complained. She faces each day with a strength beyond what many are capable of.
Mel would struggle to ask for this help so we are here to do it for her. We know that Mel will never surrender in this fight. We need your help to let her win it.
Mel was the beneficiary of another page, you can see it here: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/melanieschonewille
Mel is part of the work family at House of Travel Whangarei. As colleagues, we are all committed to helping Mel any way we can.
Help cover day-today expenses for Mel as well as help fund her treatments.
Chemo has finished 4 June 2019
Chemo has finished for now ..thank goodness...as I have developed a pretty severe breathing issue ..which hopefully will improve in the coming days ...it makes anything incredibly difficult for me to do ...as I'm constantly out of breath..so little things exhaust me ....currently i'm waiting on the results of the latest CT scan ...and then hope to get the go ahead on the Avastin that I'm fund raising for. I'm looking forward to having a little break from treatment for a few weeks ..and then getting back into the battle. Thank you everyone for your messages and donations...I so appreciate it ❤
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