Rebekah's Medical and support fund

Rebekah is a single mother of two young daughters and she has been fighting Stage IV Metastatic Melanoma for over two years that had spread to her heart, sternum and brain. Whislt the tumours in Rebekah's heart and sturnum seem to be clear, she now has over 8 known tumours in her brain.

Rebekah underwent radical brain surgery in September 2016 to eraicate one brain tumour that was bleeding, creating a life and death situation. Unfortunatly the swelling associated with brain surgery is still an issue for Rebekah.  This is a problem because steroid based drugs counteract the potentially life saving drug 
Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) which has been prescribed to Rebekah. Placing Rebekah in a no win situation.

There are only a small number of options available to Rebekah at this time. The first is to continue with anti-swelling steroid based drugs and wait the few weeks it will take Rebekah to die in comfort. This is the only Pharmaceutical Benifits Scheme available to Rebekah at this time. Leaving all other options at a significant cost to her young family.

The second and third options actually give Rebekah the chance of a life to live with her two young children, Rhiannon, 13, and Ruby, at just 6 years old. 

Rebekah has the option of taking an anti-swelling and anti-melanoma drug called Debrafinib. This is at a cost of approximatly $8800 per month. Once the swelling goes down enough for her regular treatment of Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to start to work, there is also an option of a non-steroid based anti-swelling injection at a cost of approximatly $2000 per three weeks.
 
At this point in time it is unknown how long she will need to be on either and or both drugs. What is clear is that without the drugs, Rebekah will die within a matter of weeks to months. 

We ask for your assistance in raising the money needed to keep Rebekah alive and give her a chance to spend as much time as she can with Rhiannon and Ruby. 

Thank you for reading,
Pauline Thomas (Rebekah's Mum)

If you would like to follow Rebekah's journey there is a small blog site at https://justonelittlespot.wordpress.com/ 
and a facebook page to offer support to Rebekah and her family at
https://www.facebook.com/justonelittlespot/