What a boob of a job: Lopsided-Kellie who has cancer wants her remaining 18DD boob gone!

We're rallying support for Kellie that 2 years after her cancer-ridden right breast was removed, due to her declining health & tumours in her spine, the health system finally agreed to remove the other boob, only to be one of 1000 people each week having their surgery cancelled because of Covid cases clogging up the system.

In light of breast cancer awareness month, Kellie Paton is 52, a solo mum of three children, a woman who volunteers her time to help the at-risk, vulnerable & ex incarcerated & is one of those 1000 surgeries/week in October that’s just had her breast surgery cancelled.

We know a lot of people are out there needing help. What Debra & I want from a bunch of people for Kellie is for people to donate the equivalent of a cup of coffee which will help her in her groceries, to buy veggies she can grow herself, to get bills paid, to pay for her specialist physio & to help this woman as she awaits & recovers from her surgery.

It all started from having a korero with mates about her itchy nipples. She joked it must've been her being peri-menopausal. Due her routine mammogram, she figured she’d make her appointment early & get it checked.

She hadn’t noticed herself, but the mammogram picked up an indentation on her right breast. It also picked up some spots on the same breast. Next came biopsies.

The day before her 50th birthday - 14th December 2017, Kellie was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Called into the breast specialist, she was told her prognosis: she had three tumours in her right breast. The 1st was a 50mm grade 2, the 2nd was greater than 20mm & the third 3mm.

Because it was grade two invasive & at 18DD in the cup, the last thing she wanted on top of the overwhelming whirlwind of it all was to look & feel grossly lopsided. Of course, she wanted both breasts removed. But they said that removing both breasts would be potentially detrimental to her, that she didn’t have the time to heal before undergoing chemo.

They didn’t muck around. The next month, she had a full mastectomy of her right breast.

She also had 10 out of 10 lymph nodes completely replaced by a tumour. The largest lymph node was 30mm & the cancer was considered grade 2 invasive lobular carcinoma.

On the 19th March 2018 as her son Jayden & his partner prepared for the birth of their first child & Kellie’s first grandchild, Kellie began chemo.

The plan was for Kellie to have chemo every second week with heavy doses for three months, but her body couldn’t take it. She was in & out of hospital due to the effects of chemo & because they had to do it lower & slower, it took seven months. She had to give up working, & relied on the benefit to help her through.

Kellie was physically, emotionally, mentally & spiritually exhausted. But she had her family & friends, & we’ve all rallied around her, surrounded her in love & spent time with her creating, looking after ex-incarcerated young mums with babies (she didn't want to give that up!) & cooking for her.

She had six weeks rest, then to get rid of all the cancer cells, she was onto radiation from Monday to Friday for up to an hour’s treatment for six weeks.

They tried to get her to wear a ‘chicken fillet’ & have a special bra made for her. But it felt so wrong with the weight of the prosthetic breast, plus it was sweaty & uncomfortable. She mourned for her breast, & just wanted the other one to be removed. Relying on the public health system, she was told she wasn’t allowed to have the other breast removed.

As challenging & exhausting as it all was, & despite the discomfort of one breast, she accepted it was out of her hands. No sooner was she doing her best to get on with life when she started suffering severe bone & lower back pain.

With her lymph nodes removed, she then got lymphedema in her right arm - a severe, uncomfortable swelling of her arm. It also means her immune system is severely compromised. If she gets an infection, she’s to be rushed to hospital.

Another huge side effect is always being tired so she couldn’t hold down a job. And it’s not that she’s afraid of hard work. Kellie’s always been an independent woman who has given generously to the vulnerable & at-risk. It’s the exhaustion of her body & mind constantly battling to keep her alive.

She was also required to wear a tight bandage daily which she has to have physio on, which requires a specialist physio, but she can’t afford the physio. Further, she couldn't get it anyway because of lockdown.

It was then discovered she had metastatic breast cancer which is caused because a tumour had spread to her L3 of her spine & she has a pin-prick on her pelvis, all on her right side.

They say it’s lying dormant & hasn’t grown or spread to other parts of her body. She’s on pain medication & they can’t remove it from the spine unless she has major spine surgery.

But there was some relief for this woman hit with one thing after another. In August 2021, for the sake of the tumour & pain in her spine, the breast team FINALLY called it to have her left breast removed. due to the severity of it, it was agreed it was best to get on it straight away & for her to be flat-chested.

She planned her after-surgery care with friends, despite how harrowing it is not being able to connect with us all in person since our latest lockdown.

She saw how two Auckland people fudged their papers to jet off to their Wanaka holiday home, read how Brian Tamaki & 2000 people blatantly bucked the restriction rules, watched Covid-19 cases steadily climb, gang-associated people refuse to co-operate after fudging papers & woke up on Monday to hear that despite the success of Super Saturday, that at least 1000 people gathered at the Doman where Brian Tamaki again took to the stage. She also saw the news where 50 young people partied like it was 1999 only to get the call 24 hours before her surgery that her surgery had been cancelled until further notice.

She was, in her own words, ‘So very, very angry’. Her first thought was about those selfish people over-crowding the health system & 'taking her spot'. She’s been living with her pain for a couple of years now & it felt like the rug was pulled from underneath her.

She asks, ‘What about my freedoms? What about the freedoms of people to get the care & support they need because everyone is doing their bit not only for themselves, but for everyone?’

She’s a prisoner not just of her own home, but her body, both through no fault of her own. And she needs everyone to do their bit, because not only does she need this surgery, she needs the support of people who love her around her, in her home, hugs, face-to-face & to cook with her friends as she works her way through her suffering.

Everyone is understandably looking forward to a Christmas with our families, to be able to hug our children, grandchildren & friends.

Her message is simply this: I need you to do what you need to do so we all have the freedom; so that people like me can get the surgery/after-surgery support & care we desperately need, so kids can get back to school & parents to work, so we can hug & connect in real life with our loved ones, to dance, gym, travel or explore together, the freedom to be there for the birth of babies, the celebration of weddings, graduations, birthdays & achievements so others can properly mourn & celebrate the life of loved ones.'

Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.

Aroahnui, arohanui

Amanda & Debra ❤️❤️❤️