Supporting Grahame to overcome the challenges of round 3 of cancer

Grahame is fighting his third bout of cancer. He recovered from his initial diagnosis of seminoma in 2010. After a few years of plain sailing, he was diagnosed with stage III lung cancer in 2019. After having chemo, radiation and immunotherapy things were thought to be looking better but in January 2021, further tests identified new growths on Grahame’s rib, collar bone and central chest.

The oncologists have proposed that Grahame be given Keytruda to support the chemotherapy and other drugs that are his primary treatment as they believe that there is a reasonable chance that it will help fight the disease. Currently, Keytruda is not funded by Pharmac (the government medical support in New Zealand) and thus Grahame and Renene, will need to fund this themselves. The costs of Keytruda are expected to be in the range of $80,000 to $90,000 and they are planning on selling assets and dipping into home equity to fund the costs.

Grahame is not someone who goes looking for charity however, after lengthy discussion with his family, Grahame was persuaded to allow us to seek support through Givealittle on his behalf. Pharmac have until now advised that they will not fund Keytruda however attempts are being made to try get this reversed. If these attempts are successful, we intend to use the funds for Grahame’s other critical treatments or if not required then we commit to contribute to people in similar situations or to cancer research.

For those of you who don’t know Grahame personally, he is a general practitioner and has spent his whole life going the extra mile for his patients, the community and regional practice management. He is very well regarded for his attitude and approach to medicine and the wellbeing of all patients. Despite the challenges he has faced and still faces, Grahame continues where possible to contribute to rural and regional medical practice as that is just the way he is. It seems only fair that the community should have a chance to contribute back to Grahame in his time of need.

Grahame and Renene are fighters as they have shown through the last 12 years. Their positive attitude throughout has been remarkable and they continue to fight. Family and friends have been providing all kinds of support as Grahame and Renene have “rowed their waka across rough seas” but we feel that additional support from others could help flatten the seas bashing the poor waka.

Grahame has managed to achieve a few of his recent emotional goals – the wedding of his daughter Courtney in 2020 and the birth of his first grandchild Preston in February. His next goal is to see Preston walking and talking.

We would very much love to see Grahame surmount or at least restrict this disease so that he can experience the joys that will come from his children and their families.

Please consider making a contribution to help support Grahame and Renene row their waka far into the future.