Fundraiser for Nelia

In February 2021, our mother was first diagnosed with endometrial cancer. Although she had since gotten surgery to hopefully stop the tumour in its tracks, we learned later that year that it had since metastasized, with tumours showing up in her abdomen. She was given 14 months to live at that point.

Undeterred, she decided to pursue aggressive treatment, including an unsuccessful bout of chemotherapy. At our wit's end, we decided to pursue a new immunotherapy for endometrial cancer called Lenvima and Keytruda. At that time, her Keytruda wasn’t covered by the BC Ministry of Health (the Lenvima drug company had graciously helped us out). Nonetheless, we opted to pool together what we had to fund this therapy on our own.

She started this therapy in early 2022 for three months, before she and her oncologist decided to pursue a drug holiday for quality of life reasons. However, upon seeing the lasting effects this therapy had on reducing her tumour size and maintaining her quality of life, we had new hope!

Although she had subsequent fights with breast cancer, from which she had a mastectomy, all seemed to be going well with her abdominal tumours until recently. We soon learned that her cancer had progressed.

Her oncologist wanted to put her back on Lenvima and Keytruda. However, we’ll have to pay for this therapy once again, despite the new coverage. With no guidance on how to get coverage, and with time being of the essence, we decided to continue with her oncologist’s recommendations, even if it will cost us. After all, we all believe that these drugs had shown to work when she was previously on it and had continued to work for months when she was off it during a treatment break.

While her oncology team is working to figure out how to fund her Keytruda, we humbly ask for your support. With our mother being a single-income parent and paying our day-to-day bills (as my sister just graduated and me still being in pharmacy school), we’re afraid that we will need support to help her get past another 3-6 months of treatment if not more! For now, we hope to raise enough money to fund one Keytruda infusion while we figure out how to get ourselves through from here.

We know that this is a big ask, but even the smallest bit helps. Thank you very much for your time and consideration, and we will forever be grateful.