Olivia’s cancer treatment

It is with a heavy heart that we inform you that our loving sister has been diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer. Due to it being too severe for Scotland’s medical system she was told that there was no helping her. However we never gave up and ended up finding help in a doctor in Poland. We’re reaching out to you, friends, family and colleagues for your help in raising the funds to help get Olivia the right chemotherapy and potentially save her life.

We are trying to raise money for 18 year old Olivia Kuczynska who unfortunately got diagnosed with a rare liver cancer on the 6th of July this year. Olivia and our family got told that she has this rare liver cancer called Carcinoma and that the cancer has spread to multiple places in her body, and that there is nothing the NHS can do to save her. They said that the cancer has spread too much and taken up nearly all of her liver a 12cm lump and a 5cm lump both being on her liver with smaller lumps around it, that it was inoperable and there was no chemo they could give her here in Scotland to save her life. Hearing that news we were all devastated and definitely not giving up so easy. With our family and Olivia being from Poland, we decided to get multiple doctors opinions from all over Poland and Scotland to see if there was anyone who could help save Olivia’s life. Since that time a few months ago, Olivia has been flying over to Poland every 3 weeks for doses of chemotherapy as a doctor in Poland believed they could help save or prolong her life. After many trips to Poland and many chemotherapy sessions. Olivia and the family got some news that the chemotherapy has stopped the cancer from spreading however that’s all it will do. It won’t make it smaller, better or make it go away. She also got told that over time the cancer will get used to the chemotherapy and start growing again in spite. But we never gave up there, the doctors said there is 2 options. First option was to give up and let Olivia live out the rest of her life, the few months she had left. Or option 2 there is research that could save her life.

We are making this go fund me today to raise funds for this research as the biopsy has been done however the research on its own cost €5000. That is a big sum that we unfortunately do not have after so many trips to Poland and back for Olivia and not expecting this cancer to be a thing in such a healthy and young girls age. We would appreciate if you could donate anything as any amount helps us bring Olivia one step closer to beating this cancer and living the rest of her life. All donations are welcome any size and even if you can’t donate any help would be very appreciated if you could even just share this on social media.

The research is based in Poland and is about taking the cancer biopsy, cells and studying it deeply. The Tumor Board of this clinic determines the necessary molecular diagnostic tests tailored for the patient's case. The research is based on the doctors opening up Olivia for a biopsy, send the cut off part away to specialist. The specialist will then study the structure of the cancer, cells and the molecular diagnostic. To then determinate what the cancers cells are and then find a chemotherapy that targets that kind of cancer cell. It is a shot in the dark, it could save her life like it has many others but we are not giving up as Olivia has a long life ahead of her. The board is made up of 8-10 members including clinical oncologists, genetic counselor, molecular tumor biologists and molecular diagnostic experts. Information from the website is “ The goal of molecular diagnostics is to identify the disease causing gene defects that the tumor harbors. Of the 25,000 coding human genes, 600 are associated with tumor development.  On average 4-5 different genes mutations per tumor are responsible for uncontrolled cell division. Therefore a detailed genetic profiling of a given tumor is necessary for making the right therapeutic decision. The more mutations are present in a tumor, the harder it is to select for molecular targets.  A detailed molecular profile is necessary to be sure to select the most appropriate targeted treatment.”

This research is our last hope and could lead to a chemotherapy that could save Olivia’s life.