Run for Mum
Fundraising for Brain Tumour Support NZ
Nationwide
In April 2020, in the midst of a Covid-19 lockdown my Mum was unexpectedly admitted to hospital after having a random stroke. Doctors initially assumed it was a blood clot but 3 days later our family received news no family ever wants to hear .
Sadly, my mum was diagnosed with brain cancer. A biopsy confirmed it to be a Anaplastic Astrocytoma WHO grade 3 tumour located in her left temporal lobe. Anaplastic astrocytoma is a rare, malignant brain tumour that arises from astrocytes, the supportive cells in the nervous system. The temporal lobe is the part of your brain in charge of memory storage, the process of hearing sounds, visual recognition of faces and objects, and the use of language.
Over the past year my mum has undergone multiple treatments in Wellington and Blenheim. In June 2020 she received "de-bulking" surgery to remove as much of the tumour as possible but because the tumour is located in a very important part of the brain (the temporal lobe), it was too dangerous to try and remove it all.
In August 2020 she started her 6 weeks of radiation treatment and chemotherapy (in tablet form) with help from the lovely neurology team in Wellington. She did incredibly well during this time and even had to cope with a second Covid lockdown towards the end of her treatment which made it hard.
A few months later the treatment caught up to her and her body started suffering. The swelling in her brain started to affect different bodily functions, memory loss, ability to walk, affected her vision on one side, couldn't read or write and struggled to process things.
She was in and out of hospital from Oct 20 - Jan 21 and had another surgery in Dec in Wellington where she had a shunt put into her brain to reduce the pressure build up caused by the tumour.
Mum was a passionate Primary school teacher, tramper, loved reading, actor and was known for her happy and friendly nature and is loved by many. It is incredibly hard seeing the effects one tumour can have on a such a lovely, active and caring human in such a short time. This has been incredibly hard journey for Mum and our family to go through and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone.
Watching this horrible cancer take over my mums life has motivated me to accomplish a goal i have been wanting to achieve for a long time, complete a full marathon. I am starting this GiveaLittle page to run a marathon and raise money for a special chairty I found online called Brain Tumour Support NZ. I also want to use this to raise awareness of the horrible effects brain cancer has on people worldwide.
Thankyou to everyone at the Wellington and Blenheim Neurology Hospital units for the ongoing support and to all our amazing friends and family for the many gifts and kind messages.
I love you Mum.
Latest update
❤️ RIP MUM ❤️ 14 January 2022
Kia Ora everyone and Happy New Year!
Sorry we haven't posted any updates in a long time. The past couple of months have been very hard for our family and super overwhelming.
Unfortunately our mum's condition deteriorated in November as her brain tumour had grown even larger. She started to loose mobility in her legs and was struggling to walk around and do the basics which was really hard to see. She suffered several falls and was in and out of hospital. Her body had been through enough and she ended up in hospice in a deep sleep. She managed to hang on for another week in the Blenheim hospice without any food or water. Shaun flew down just before she went into hospice. As hard as this was to see for Grandma and us both, it was nice to finally see Mum at rest in hospice, the staff were so lovely and caring and it was nice to be able to talk with her and prepare for her passing.
Our dear Mum, Sue Marjorie Johnstone (59), passed away on the 21.11.21. Although this was sadly expected, it is incredibly surreal and heartbreaking loosing our Mum but it is a relief knowing she is at peace now. Unfortunately we missed her passing but saw a shooting star in the sky right before we walked into hospice minutes later, that was a pretty special moment for us. Whenever you look up at the stars, may your thoughts of her come to life.
We held a lovely service for her in Blenheim at Cloudy Bay funeral services and had many friends and family from Wellington and Blenheim attend. The service was live streamed and recorded and is still available to view on the Cloudy Bay funeral services website if you wish to view, will put link here: https://www.cloudybayfunerals.co.nz/funerals/susan-johnstone---sue
We have just got back from an amazing holiday break which was well needed for us all! Me and my brother Shaun haven't been able to keep up with enough training to do the full marathon but are still booked in to do the half marathon next weekend in Auckland on the 23rd!!! If you're in the Auckland area we would love to have your support! We will be running in white "Brain Tumour Support NZ" t-shirts so keep an eye out!!
We are definitely going to aim to do the full marathon later on this year as promised when I created this givealittle page!
I was a bit gutted I didn't remember to extend the page after the marathon was postponed due to the last lockdown but thank you all so much for your kind donations, we are absolutely blown away with how much money we have managed to raise, all thanks to you guys!!! The amount of love and support we have received has been truly amazing, we appreciate the love immensely.
All the money raised has gone straight to BTSNZ charity to support their on-going amazing work supporting people and their families in NZ suffering from brain tumours.
May mums quirky, bubbly and caring spirit live on in everyones memories. Love to you all,
Marcus and Shaun Johnstone ❤️
💙💙💙 RIP MUM 💙💙💙
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