With Love for Sarah: Supporting a Devoted Mum Through the Unthinkable

For Sarah and Al, life used to be about the "everyday": school runs for their 2 young boys, weekend sports, and planning a future together. This all changed in an instant with Sarah’s diagnosis of advanced Stage 3 Breast Cancer.

Now, their "everyday" is a calculation of survival. Sarah is fighting hard, having already undergone 6 months of chemotherapy and immunotherapy and recovering from major surgery, and now facing 6 more months of chemo and immuno then radiation therapy. All in the hope that a cure can be achieved.

Immunotherapy (Pembrolizamab) is NOT funded by Pharmac despite being a "global standard" drug for Sarah’s type of cancer and comes with a staggering price tag in NZ. 6 mths of treatment has already cost almost $70k. Between the cost of the treatment and the loss of income while Sarah undergoes treatment and surgery for 18 mths or more, the financial burden has added additional stress to an already extremely stressful and emotional time.

This has turned their whole world upside down, not just emotionally, but also financially. We want to help to take the financial pressure off the family, so Sarah can focus entirely on her treatment and her boys. Being private and proud, it is incredibly humbling and difficult for Sarah and Al to do this, but they concede that their friends feel at a loss of how to help. Right now, alleviating some financial pressure would ease their overall burden.