The Big Small Change Fundraiser

Let me introduce you to my sister Bridget. This is my favourite photo of us, taken in 2015 when she was living in Perth with her young family. Little did we know this day that life was about to change forever.

Bridget found a lump in her breast and upon visiting a doctor she was told it was nothing to worry about. A short while later she and her young family returned to NZ and Bridget wisely sought a second opinion. That same day she was admitted for a biopsy, received a diagnosis 3 days later and was booked in for an emergency mastectomy of her right breast and lymph node clearing.

Her 'nothing to worry about lump' turned out to be stage 3 breast cancer.

Over the next five years, Bridget battled with recurrence and had five surgeries to her right chest. In 2019 she decided to take matters into her own hands and opted for a risk-reducing mastectomy of the left breast in August 2020. As there was no indication the cancer had spread, she and her team were positive that this would be the end of her cancer journey. But unexpectedly at her post-surgery check-up, she was told that cancer had been found in a lymph node removed from the left breast. After follow-up tests were completed Bridget again received another diagnosis, this time that her cancer had metastasised and was now incurable.

These six years since her first diagnosis have been a nightmare series of misdiagnosis and diagnosis accompanied by multiple surgeries and life-saving treatments that have had debilitating side effects. Along with the loss of her physical and emotional well being during this time, Bridget also lost her 18-year marriage and found herself in a financially unsupported situation, unable to work and without health insurance or life insurance and being a solo mother to her four children. It’s been a bloody rough ride.

For those of you who don’t know Bridget, she has dedicated her professional career to coaching aspiring young women, giving them the skills, training and connections they need to grow in confidence and self-belief to successfully take on both their personal and professional life goals. She has changed and improved the lives of many young women, so now, we, a group of women who have all benefited from Bridgets expertise and generous nature are banding together to help change and improve Bridgets life as she navigates her way through her battle to stay alive as long as possible.

Our hope is to assist Bridget with immediate access to well-being and alternative medical treatments to complement the care she is currently getting through the public health system in an effort to prolong her life as long as possible and for the time she has left to be quality time.

Her personal wish is to be around long enough to see her young children into adulthood and equip them with the skills they’ll need to navigate life without her. She also wishes to start a not-for-profit organisation to assist other women in situations similar to hers that are also fighting this disease. This foundation will be her living legacy.

Every little bit counts here. We realise times are tough for a lot of people out there so we decided to set out to see if we could make a big difference from small change and thought lets see how many people we can get to donate $1 to support Bridget and her road to cancer treatment?

This is the inspiration behind the non-profit organisation we are working to establish ‘The Big Small Change Foundation’. Once we have got Bridget the care she needs we will move on to help other young women living with stage 4 breast cancer through our official platform.

Primarily, funds will be used for Bridget's treatment plan with Verita Life in Thailand, flights and accommodation during her 6 week stay, any other funds will help with Isolation costs. Any surplus will be used for the establishment of the foundation.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you could share Bridget’s story and if you can help in any way it would mean the world. We have big goals to reach and every little bit counts.