Update for 02/10/2014
2 October 2014Enter details of your update here Hi all I have been updating my facebook page but suddenly realised there are a number of you who are not on facebook so are a bit behind in the saga of our lives! My apologies if this is old news.. Itfs less than 3 months until Christmas. Where has the year gone? I bought a 2015 diary today. This is a huge milestone as I was not expected to see the year out and now I am making plans well into 2015. I canft describe how good a feeling that is ? I know I wonft live forever as there is no cure for melanoma but these new drugs really are buying me time. Yesterday I had the third treatment of a new drug called Nivolumab which is one of the latest immunotherapy drugs for treating melanoma. The great thing is that I have this treatment in Tauranga every second week so no more trips to Wellington. It is so much easier to be able to drive 5 minutes after treatment and crawl into my own bed! The side effects of Nivo are so mild compared to chemo or Yervoy (which is the last drug I was on). Healthwise I am feeling pretty good. I still get tired quite easily and get very short of breath but otherwise I canft complain about too much. In face Mark and I recently had a week in the Cook Islands which we really enjoyed ? the girls were not impressed to be left behind but we just needed some time together alone and it was fantastic. We head off tomorrow for a week in Noosa (with the girls this time) and we are all looking forward to spending some time together as a family. Mark is as busy as ever and is almost finished his post-graduate Certificate in Development Studies (Ifm so proud of him), Hannah brought home an excellent school report last week and is doing really well with NCEA Level 1 (5th form) and Abigail was awarded most improved player in her soccer team and she also continues to do well at school. Both girls have lovely friends and the house sometimes feels like a railway station but we all love it. The pool is almost warm enough for swimming and a few warmer weeks will help. I am starting to think about work again and have a couple of leads for some project work. It will be healthy to start thinking about more than myself and spending hours researching my health condition ? I think I have become a bit boring and hope to avoid getting to the point where I need to be the centre of attention. So, if you need something done, you know where I am. Given that it is early days I will continue to fundraise in order to ensure that if this treatment fails I can get access to another trial drug. If I get to a point where I know this fantastic support is no longer required I will decide the best place to donate the remaining funds to. I will of course ensure that I let you know about this decision when the time comes. I hope this finds you all well as we rapidly approach the crazy time of year. Thanks for your continued support - without it I wouldn't be here today. Hugs, Sarah xx Sarah Speight 40 Fraser St Tauranga 3112 NEW ZEALAND 021 778580 sarahsp8@gmail.com