Our beautiful friend Marlies Marthen, 34, is facing stage 4 bowel cancer with her trademark humour and incredible strength. We’re raising funds to help her focus on healing and afford treatment, living costs and promising targeted Dendritic Cell Therapy in Germany.

If you know Marlies (or “Mar”), you already know she’s the funny friend!

The one who can make you laugh until you cry, who somehow finds humour even in the hardest moments. She’s hilariously inappropriate, endlessly kind, and the first person to rescue a bug or stop to admire a tree (or hot waiter). She loves animals, nature, and people with her whole heart. When they say cancer does not discriminate, she is living proof of this, as are the many young people who are being diagnosed at an increasing rate.

In 2024, in her early 30’s and the prime of her life, Mar moved to Brisbane to immerse herself in nature and start part-time study in Marine Biology. Following concerning symptoms, Mar went in for a colonoscopy only to awaken and find out that they had discovered a large tumour, which then led to her being diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer.

Being away from her home in Melbourne, she faced stage 3 bowel cancer with courage, humour, and her signature Mar-style stubbornness. Not one to ask for help, she continued to live in Brisbane away from family and friends to go through surgery and chemo.

Going through the first 6 months of chemo took a significant toll on Mar's mental and physical health. She had to continue to work and study during this time, and although immensely supportive, she works for a small Tech start up, which doesn't have work cover or insurance like she may have if working for a bigger corporate organisation.

After six taxing months of chemo, she was ready to reclaim her life. She started planning a six-month European adventure to see her family and planned to do volunteer research in the Costa Rican Jungle. Finally taking a breath after everything she’d been through.

Mar’s grand plans to travel were due to take off in December 2025, however, she had been closely monitoring with specialists a pesky nodule on her lungs that was determining when she was able to pursue this adventure.

In early December 2025, scans revealed that the cancer had returned and spread to additional lymph nodes and the lung nodule. This has now classified her cancer as stage 4. This, combined with her having a specific 'KRS mutation', can be more difficult to treat. It’s devastating news, but if there’s anyone who can face this next chapter with strength, it’s Mar.

She’ll begin a new round of chemotherapy in early 2026, and her doctors are building a treatment plan tailored to her specific cancer type, a plan full of hope and possibility. Everyone in the oncology team at Peter Mac has been positive on Mar's outlook in these early stages.

Mar has been doing everything possible to ensure the effectiveness of her treatment and exhausting all avenues. She’s been undergoing private tests, which aren't covered by the Government rebates, to take this cancer head-on and have as many options as possible! For example, she has been undertaking testing to specify which chemotherapy/immunotherapy drugs would work best on her specific type of tumour - an important but expensive test to have completed.

It is hard to put a figure on this because a lot of people don't understand how expensive having cancer can be. In the last 12 months alone, Mar has spent upwards of $50,000 on treatment costs whilst still pushing herself to work full-time and study. These costs will continue to compound and grow as new challenges arise with the stage 4 diagnosis.

During her first chemo treatment, Mar was lucky enough to meet a special friend Lara Jane, who was also going through receiving a cancer diagnosis and treatment as a young person. She had planned to travel to Germany to receive a modern cancer vaccine at a reputable cancer research clinic. Unfortunately, she was too unwell and passed away earlier in 2025 before she could receive this potentially life-changing treatment. Alongside the current financial costs of treatment, Mar is hoping to raise enough to pursue this treatment herself.

This GoFundMe will help cover the costs of getting her to Germany to receive this advanced cancer treatment, as well as contribute to her current treatment, living expenses, and essentials while she takes time away from her busy job in tech recruitment to rest, recover, and restore her energy and focus on healing.

The treatment costs for Dendritic Cell Therapy alone in Germany can range from $60,000 to $100,000 AUD, depending on the number of treatment rounds, lab work, and any ongoing medical care required. Not included are travel, and all the other ongoing medical and living costs.

We want to give Mar the chance to focus entirely on healing, without the added stress of full-time work or everyday bills.

Every little bit counts. Whether it’s a donation, a share, or a message of support. It all adds up to breathing space and peace of mind for someone who has given so much joy to everyone around her.

Let’s give Mar the time and space to heal, so she can get back to making the world (and us) laugh again.

With love,

Her friends and family

Update from her community 25/2/26:

Hello everyone,

Thanks to all who are still following, silently donating and sharing.

It’s been a wee while since our last update, and we want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

It's been an incredibly heavy and exhausting time.

Mar has been making some really big decisions about her cancer treatment and hasn’t been feeling her best self.

That may sound unsurprising, you'd think someone with stage 4 cancer feels shit all the time, but throughout most of her treatment/diagnosis, Mar has taken a positive and holistic approach focusing on keeping up with exercising, cancer-reducing diet, mindfulness, nature walks, reading and prioritising sleep. Whilst she is still doing her best, in between moving house, finishing up at work at nDeva, ongoing IV infusions (see pic, meeting some interesting characters, story for another time!), scans, appointments, trying to catch some waves, harassment from psychic scammers, and everything else, it’s just been a lot.

Cancer is overwhelming in every. single. way. physically, mentally and emotionally.

We can’t thank you enough, especially those who quietly donate and support us even when we’re not posting. Your generosity and kindness mean more than we can ever put into words.

The need for dendritic cell treatment is becoming very real. Ideally, it needs to happen very soon after her chosen cancer treatment finishes, so we’re exploring every possible avenue to make this next step happen. We are planning a few events to help raise funds and will share details soon!!

As you can imagine, planning an event, whilst trying to make life-changing decisions around cancer treatment, is not bloody easy, so we are taking it slowly and will likely aim to do something in mid-April. If you/or anyone you know would like to be involved in any capacity - sponsors, donors, event coordinators, attendees, please reach out, we'd love all the help we can get. We've set up an email inbox here: [email redacted]

Why are we doing all this...and what is this Dendritic Cell Treatment?

Dendritic cell therapy is a personalised form of immunotherapy that helps the body recognise and fight cancer more effectively. It works by collecting Mar’s own immune cells (Dendritic Cells), training them in a specialised lab to identify her specific cancer markers, and then re-introducing them into her body to help her immune system attack the cancer. It's essentially an additional line of defence following chemo/radiation to keep those bloody cancer cells away.

This treatment isn’t currently available in Australia outside of clinical research (see below), so Mar will need to travel to Germany, where the therapy has been used for many years with promising results. It’s an intensive and highly specialised process that gives real hope when standard treatments have reached their limits.

Because it’s a personalised therapy, the costs are high. The treatment costs alone in Germany can range from $60,000- $100,000 AUD plus, depending on the number of treatment rounds, lab work, and ongoing medical care required. Not included are travel, and all the other ongoing medical and living costs.

If you want to understand a little more about what dendritic cell treatment is and why it’s so important, here’s a helpful link:

What is Dendritic Cell Therapy?

It's not an 'Apple Cider Vinegar' treatment; it's a very real and a scientifically backed advanced cell therapy, for which Peter Mac was recently awarded a $17 million grant to begin clinical development here in Australia.

This is a huge step forward for making the treatment more accessible locally in the future, and it gives us real hope. You can read more about it here:

Peter Mac Dendritic Cell Funding

Thank you again for being here, for every message, every donation, and every good thought you send our way. We see it, we feel it, and it keeps us going.

With love xx

Update from Mar (4/2/2026):

Today is WorldCancerDay. Saying Happy World Cancer day feels a bit weird. Respectfully piss off Cancer is a little more fitting.

I’m 34 years old and i'm living with Stage 4 Cancer. I thought I’d share some insights into how my last 6 weeks has been since being welcomed to the Stage 4 Cancer Clurrrrb (boy, do we know how to party).

Let me tell you. I have been popular. I’m trying to slap all the specialists away but they keep politely declining my requests to leave me alone. How rude!

⭐ Over the last 6 weeks I have had ⭐

2 surgical procedures, including a colonoscopy and Lung Biopsy

5 scans, including CT, MRIs and Pet Scans

5 blood tests

17 appointments with multiple specialists across Melbourne, Brisbane and Germany to discuss treatment options and the plan ahead.

97 mental breakdowns including one which involves being scammed by a psychic ... a story for another time

Some have told me that my case is curative, others have been less positive. Some are arseholes, others are the kindest people.

Living with Cancer is fucking exhausting. I feel annoyed that it consumes so much of my time and my existence. It’s kind of like living in a permanent existential crisis. You want to live a normal life but you’re not really sure how.

Besides who has the time to live a normal life when you and your new best mate Claude are in search for the next miracle cure … 21 day water fast here I come!! Hmm. Could I be popped into a mild coma for minimal hunger pangs perhaps?

Enough whingeing. Cancer sucks. Bla Bla. BUT I’m so grateful to have so many incredible friends and family who have been here supporting me every step of the way.

Thank you for those of you who have donated to my gofundme so far. It really means so much to me, and will help get me to Germany for the Dendritic Cell Vaccine.

P.s. if you have been impacted by cancer and would like to chat, I am always here!

P.s.s. I'm still in search for a husband

Previous update from Mar (21/12/2025):

I haven’t really been looking on the gofundme site. I’m so overwhelmed by the kindness of everyone who has donated and reached out to me over the last week. Thank you so much for all of your support.

For the last week I’ve been running around like a maniac trying to get referrals to specialist radiation clinics in Germany, and there is also one in Perth and Melbourne called cyberknife. The lymph nodes that are cancerous in my lungs have taken place in some pesky sites that are risky to operate on, but these clinics are mad dogs and hopefully will give it a good wack.

I have an appointment with a consulting team in Germany for the dendritic cell vaccine next week, they send my case to various specialists and then will assign me with the doctor who’s had the best results for my specific cancer.

I’m also trying to get an appointment with a specialist radiologist in Germany, called Dr Vogl (Dr Bird translated) .. it seems as though he is currently snoozing in his nest. Not for long!

I also thought it would be fun to reach out to a spiritual healer (why not you know?) he said for his services he’d charge me $18000. Absolute bargain! … I politely told him to ram that up his arse telepathically. I’m sure he got the message.

There are options, just figuring out what is best at this point. … I might give that spiritual healer a miss for now, but hey! If you know of anyone give me a holla.

Xoxo Manic Mar

Previous update (16/12/2025):

Thank you doesn’t even begin to express the gratitude to everyone who has so generously donated. Reaching the $10k milestone in less than 24 hours is massive. Wow wow wow.

The last 24 hours have been incredibly emotional. It takes enormous strength for Mar to put her story out there, and doing so makes everything feel very real for her.

Thank you again, from the bottom of our hearts. As a small thank you, here’s a glimpse into what we mean when we say Mar is the funny friend. Please watch and enjoy her always making the most of just how sexy she looks in a hospital gown and making sure to make us laugh at all times.

Thank you for continuing to share around to your networks, we will continue to keep you posted as there are updates x