cure4hayley

What would you pay to see your precious child grow up?

Please, please read my story to understand why I am continuing with my life changing fundraising. This is my only hope of spending more time nurturing my precious son, Callum. I have never asked others for help, but was persuaded that I was worthy of support. Thankfully, hundreds of people have since agreed, generously donating over £70,000 towards the £200,000 I need (equating to £240 per day over 2 years).

What I need your help with

I was deemed to be terminally ill over three years ago, but refused to accept this. I diligently researched with my husband, Jim, to find groundbreaking proven treatments. Collaborating with experts I was able to find a proven new life saving immunotherapy drug (Pembrolizumab). However, the drug company is bogged down in the bureaucracy of making such drugs routinely accessible. My request for ‘exceptional’ NHS funding was rejected and despite being raised during a recent Prime Minister’s Question Time has no prospect of being funded by the NHS in the near future. This is despite Pembrolizumab already having been made available, at no cost, for other types of cancer. There is no incentive for the system to fund early access to this drug for my rare bowel cancer sub-type and no means of changing this. Believe me, I have tried. Therefore, my immediate focus is on fundraising to cover the two years of treatment required (I do intend to continue campaigning for other deserving families too).

With fantastic local support, over £70,000 has been raised over a few short months. Hence, a local Professor of Oncology, was able to start my private immunotherapy treatment, on 1 December 2017, at my local hospital, Castle Hill. Words are insufficient to express how grateful I am to everyone who has contributed. They have made my family’s dream a reality; the gift of extending my life. I am feeling better than I have for years. But I need to continue raising money to cover the full costs of treatment.

Further support for my cause

After 3 years of fortnightly palliative chemotherapy, there was no other option but immunotherapy for me. It also became very obvious that the NHS approvals system is much too slow and inflexible. Therefore, I am campaigning for this revolutionary drug to be made urgently available for other deserving families who find themselves, through no choice of their own, in a similar position to me.

Pembrolizumab, has been approved in America for over a year now for a very wide range of ‘solid’ MSI-high cancers, which includes my rare cancer sub-type. This was based on a set of startlingly successful results in clinical trials, with some patients even taken out of hospices to resume a normal family life! My collaborative research with experts has also confirmed that this is my only real hope for a longer life or even a possible cure. Well respected senior NHS consultants agree with me that this is my best option, but they cannot yet obtain funding from the NHS. The NHS has chosen initially to make Pembrolizumab available to only a relatively small number of cancer patients. Limiting the cost implications, until the NHS can agree better prices? This process will be too late for me and many others. Is this fair? Would you accept this if you were in my position?

Way forward

After many months of exploring every possible way to obtain this drug from the NHS, as some are privileged to do, I have met with nothing but stalling tactics and almost literally ‘dead ends’. I felt compelled to begin the treatment, without all the funds in place, fearing my health was deteriorating too much. Fundraising has been hard work, humbling and life changing. Having started treatment, I am freed from the tyranny of the bi-weekly chemotherapy I had endured for the past three years. When I am able I will continue to campaign for access to this groundbreaking treatment, for the sake of all the other deserving families.

Having relied on the generosity of family, friends, ex-colleagues and kind hearted members of the public, I have been truly humbled how much people care. The response has been totally overwhelming and heartwarming, from all ages and walks of life, including from my ex-nursing colleagues and from many people who do not even know me. Many successful fundraising events have been held, by my fantastic friends, with many more planned. But, I do still have a long way to go to cover the full treatment costs.

I Would be very grateful if you could please carefully consider becoming one of my supporters. As well as helping to save me, you will also be helping to bring the kinder future of cancer care into the lives of countless other families devastated by this terrible disease.

Callum my 11 year old son has held my hand tightly on this unwanted ‘journey’ and is already wise beyond his years. His message to you is simple and direct: “Please give a little for a lot of life!”

What can you do? 

Thank you for taking the time to read my story, consider donating (by clicking one of the many red donate buttons or by emailing me), as every penny counts, and remember that no act of kindness is ever wasted. If nothing else please, please share my story, and my campaign for wider access to immunotherapy, with as many friends/acquaintances as you can. Preferably convince them in personal conversations to visit my website to learn more and decide whether to donate. Alternatively, send friends/acquaintances texts and emails with this website address, which has been kindly developed by my great friend Jon:

www.cure4hayley.com


Thank you so much.


To life! (In memory of Tom Marsilje)

I became friendly, via his selfless cancer help blog, with Tom Marsilje, an American cancer drugs researcher and fantastic patient advocate, who was also a fellow stage IV bowel cancer patient. Tom took the trouble to educate me about the possibilities emerging from the fast developing area of immunotherapy. I will be forever in Tom’s debt and following his recent death wish to honour his memory and be part of his legacy. He stressed the need for me to get a new cancer tumour test done. This would reveal if I had a rare highly mutated cancer sub-type, classified as having Micro Satellite Instability: termed as MSI-High status. I hit the jackpot! My test showed that I did indeed have a rare highly mutated cancer sub-type. Tom then revealed that MSI-High cancers were responding really well in the latest trials to the immunotherapy treatments, in this case the drug pembrolizumab. The mutations could be used to good effect by the drug to reveal the cancer to my powerful immune system for attack. Early results were stunning the scientific community and the race was on to translate this to patient care. A race America is far ahead in, as they passed pembrolizumab through an accelerated approvals process. Tom always finished his blogs with “To life!” I will never forget my dear friend and the great amount of good he did in the world.


My cancer story, and it is one of hope, is available for you to read on my ‘Message from Hayley’ web page at www.cure4hayley.com Please also see the resource we have put together for other families.


My email is: [email redacted]

“Please give a little for a lot of life!”


Please also note that any funds raised will be subject to audit and will go directly to my treatment, or to immunotherapy research if I should not be able to continue.