The MacPhersons fight cancer - help support them on the journey

Update 9 Sept 2023:

It is with huge grief that I share the news with you that our beloved Hamish passed away on Wednesday afternoon after his courageous fight against the cruelest disease.

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On the 11th of April everything changed. Hamish’s cancer had returned, it is in his brain, lungs, stomach & liver, this time the oncologist told us the words we so desperately didn’t want to hear. Metastatic Melanoma. Inoperable.

Hamish had a double dose of immunotherapy. He was fighting so hard, for us & our family & we were so hopeful that this would help. It didn’t. He wasn’t getting better. He was getting worse. How would I tell our kids he was dying. Our world was crashing down

Suddenly we were talking to lawyers about wills & doctors about hospice. In the haze of all the talk about comfort & dignity, we were offered a medication to try. We were warned quickly that it had only a 35% chance of being effective, we knew we had to try

Within a day of starting this drug we saw improvements. Hamish became more mobile, his pain easing and his nausea diminished. On April 24, 13 days later he came home.

In the next 12 mths we need to find over $120k ($10k per mth for ongoing drugs Dabrafenib and Trametinib & support, Immunotherapy = $50k for 1 treatment, these are unfunded) to continue treatment & engage with vital support services to help us through this next stage. This medication not only gives us hope, but precious time as a family.

We know how hard things are at the moment for so many families. We are not asking for support lightly, but we know the continuation of this treatment could change the time we have together. It could change our world.

With gratitude, Jana & Hamish