Jenny's Fund

Mum was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma in March 2015. This was unbelievable for my family as mum has always looked after herself and lived a healthy lifestyle. We had no warning, mum has always, eaten well, exercised daily and got regular sun checks from her GP. So the day I got he phone call that mum had cancer came as a complete shock. At first glance we believed she had breast cancer as she felt lumps in her breasts, however with more testing it was clear that the lumps presenting in her breasts were secondary. The melanoma cancer had spread from her chest (a large lump pressing on her heart) to her lungs, breasts, peritoneum and various areas of her back and neck. She is currently undergoing immunotherapy treatment after the oral chemotherapy had recently stopped being effective.  

 

Mum is the most amazing women you will ever meet ( I could be biased). She has loves her four children and two ridgebacks more than anything and is a doting wife to her husband. She is very strong and knowing that she is unwell is hard to believe when you see her. She would do anything for anyone and is always trying to push herself to make sure everyone else is ok.  She is a fighter and has been so brave throughout this whole process already. She was a prep teacher’s aide up until she had to start chemotherapy and absolutely loved her job and the children. So no longer being able to work is not easy for her. Financially loosing her income has put added stress on her and my Dad. Dad works hard and long hours, so gets to spend little time with mum. Mums ultimate wish is to finally get her house ‘done up’ so that she has something nice to hang out in all day and be proud of when she gets visitors. Her current kitchen is not very functional, she has not had a working stove for over 10 years now and the cupboards are starting to look pretty worse for wear, not to mention it is quite small. Being told your mum has terminal cancer is the most heartbreaking news anyone could hear. I hope that with help from friends and strangers we can give back to our mum and show her just how much people care about her and love her. She is such a caring soul and does so much for people around her, allowing her kitchen to be transformed will bring back some light and happiness into our home.