Foto principal de la recaudación de fondos

Help us get 'Kisqali for Kelly'

Donación protegida
My sister Kelly McLean has been fighting terminal breast cancer for four years. It’s been the hardest battle of her life, and it’s a battle we’ve been told she won’t win.

But, every day she gets to spend with her two young daughters, Eve and Isabelle, husband Matthew, and family, is a day we cherish. Yes, asking for money is hard, but what we’re really asking for is time.

Kisqali is a new cancer treatment that stops cancer progressing. It’s also expensive. 

Realistically Kel can’t  start Kisqali unless she can fund at least 6 months of treatment ($30,000) as a minimum and we would prefer 12 months ($60,000). We are aiming to raise $120,000 to fund 2 years of treatment with the hopes it may become available on the PBS in 2 year’s time.

A month’s treatment costs $5,000, equating to $1,250 a week or $180 a day. For every day of treatment we raise, it would mean the world.

Help us get ‘Kisqali for Kelly’, help my beautiful sister Kel see one more Christmas, or birthday or her daughter’s graduation. Let’s give Kel more time. 
 
Update: Time is now critical we need to raise the first $30k in the next 20 days, please share this with your friends and families to give hope and time, so they can spend as much time as they can together. 

(Read Kelly's Full Story Below)


Kelly and Family Milestones – Helping Buy Precious Time

- August 18th 2018 – Eve turns 12

- September 2018 – Eve's Taekidokai Grading

- October School Holidays – Our first family holiday abroad since the diagnosis (Singapore to do the theme parks with the girls as I can’t travel to the US)

- October 29th 2018 - Matthew's Birthday

- November 8th 2018 – I turn 44

- December 2018 – Eve's Year 6 Formal & School Awards Night

- December 21st 2018 – Our wedding anniversary (4 years)

- December 24th  2018 – Christmas (My Mum is flying over from the UK as the girls desperately want a family Christmas)

- January 26th  2019 – Citizenship Anniversary (1 Year)

- February 2019 - Eve’s first day of High School

- March 6th 2019 – Isabelle turns 11

- Easter 2019 – Mclean & McNorton trip to the Great Barrier Reef (The girls bucket list of things they want to experience with Mum)

 
Kelly's Story

In November 2014, my sister Kelly celebrated her 40th birthday in Canberra surrounded by friends.  As you might expect there was lots of fun and laughter however, as the night wore on her ribs began to hurt.  Kelly thought she had pulled a muscle from too much laughing.  

Two days later Kelly sat on her balcony with the same group of friends reeling with shock having just received a diagnosis of breast cancer that had spread to her ribs and spine.  The pain in her ribs was from the spreading breast-cancer cells that had eaten through them causing them to break. 

As you can imagine Kelly was in disbelief, having just celebrated 40 years of life to being given a death sentence.  The extent and spread of her cancer was so great that a total cure was impossible.  Treatment commenced immediately to lengthen her life, so she could spend more time with Matt and her two young daughters, Eve and Isabelle.  How she summoned the courage to explain this to her girls I will never know?  You see the girls are her world, her everything... 

Kelly has suffered through aggressive chemotherapy and radiotherapy to slow the spread and give her more time.  Her life was put on an accelerated pace.  Despite how sick she was from the chemotherapy, Kelly and Matt tied the knot 4 weeks after diagnosis, desperate to acknowledge their life-long commitment they had made to each back in their University days.  The day after the ceremony, Kelly awoke to a pillow covered with hair, clumps fell out in the shower and she made the brave decision to shave it all off. Whilst the treatment gave her more time, the girls were confronted by the degree of change in mum’s health and her ability to care for them. More terrifyingly, inside six months the cancer cells started to eat through Kelly’s other bones.

You see Kelly’s cancer cells are pretty stubborn, like her.  Within 6-12 months each new treatment becomes ineffective.  Whilst we are truly thankful for extended time the treatments have given her, the last few years have been incredibly tough on her two little girls and Matthew.

The latest run of chemotherapy has come with a host of intolerable side effects.  It has meant Kelly is staying alive a little longer, but is missing out on key events in Eve and Isabelle’s lives.  Many of you will be able to imagine this kind of heartbreak. Sadly, the effects of cancer don’t lie with the sufferer alone but with their children, partners and extended family.   Eve and Isabelle are struggling with challenges most other children have no understanding of, nor should they; wondering whether Mum will be here for their birthday or Christmas.  They are desperate for their Mum to stay in their lives, but our government-funded treatment options are exhausted with chemotherapy the last option for a comfortable way to die rather than live. 

But there is another option, to buy Kelly more time.  A new drug, “Kisqali” exists that substantially improves survival rates for metastatic breast cancer by halting progression. This will buy the family more precious time.  More birthdays, awards nights, snuggles on the sofa, kisses before bed and more Mum-time.  Whilst we hate to ask, we really need your help.

Please help us get “Kisqali” for Kelly - our aim is to raise $120,000 to access at least two years of this drug or more if it remains successful for her.  If you feel like you can help, whether it be through a donation, a Facebook share or fundraising ideas we would love to hear from you.  Any amount donated, big or small would be truly awesome.  We remain eternally thankful for the support of friends, family and those touched by Kelly’s struggle to remain in our lives.

Donaciones 

  • James Hobson
    • $100 
    • 5 yrs

Organizador

Lee Anne Mclean-Jones
Organizador
Kiama Downs NSW

Tu lugar de confianza, sencillo y eficaz, donde obtener ayuda

  • Fácil

    Dona de forma rápida y sencilla.

  • Eficaz

    Envía ayuda a la gente y a las causas que te importan.

  • Confiable

    Tus donaciones están protegidas por la  Garantía de GoFundMe.