Help Aalia in her Battle with Breast Cancer

Hi my name is Caroline Steele and I'm here to help raise some much needed funds for my friend Aalia who has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Aalia, has undoubtedly drawn the short straw in life the past few years with being diagnosed with autoimmune diseases rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and ankylosing spondylitis. In April this year, she felt a lump in her breast and was diagnosed with Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

Some of you maybe familiar with this type of breast cancer, it's one of the most aggressive and tends to be found in younger women. Aalia is in her early 40's. It is one of the hardest to treat as fewer options are available. She has just undergone 3 months of aggressive chemotherapy to reduce the tumour size. The chemotherapy has been challenging for her to tolerate, necessitating blood transfusions and numerous hospital admissions.

Aalia had just commenced a new job when her diagnosis was made, so she had no holiday or sick pay. She has a heavy mortgage to pay. The bank has been kind enough to defer payment for 6 months, but this will commence again in 12 weeks.

Today Aalia has a bilateral mastectomy and hysterectomy, as she has the BRCA1 gene. There will be follow up chemotherapy as she is stage 3.

I would love to alleviate some of the financial burdens she is currently experiencing, as this isn't helping her medical condition. The government's sickness benefits cover food and assist out-of-pocket medical expenses, but the mortgage will soon resume.

Aalia is a lovely lady, part of the Kittie Kat Rescue team. Her downtime is spent helping cats for charity.

If you can spare a few dollars however small I know this will take away some of the stress and help her heal faster.

Thank you all so much x