Help Carrie beat Cancer for a Second Time

Help Carrie crush cancer for a second time I have known Carrie for 22 years. She is a hard-working, intelligent, creative woman, the mother of three beautiful daughters and a grown up son, a dedicated secondary school teacher, and she is fighting breast cancer for a second time. Having beaten an initial diagnosis after 2 years of treatment in 2012-14, Carrie found a lump again last May. A biopsy revealed it was a recurrence of the same cancer, but this time a PET-CT scan showed it had spread to her left lung, liver and several chest and neck lymph nodes, meaning it is Stage IV this time, which is considered to be incurable. Carrie started treatment in June last year and had a good response initially. Unfortunately, her most recent PET scan a few weeks ago has shown progression again. The 5-year survival rate for Stage IV breast cancer is just 22%. Carrie is determined to be amongst the 22% who live longer than 5 years so that she can see her girls grow up. But this means she will be in active treatment for the rest of her life. Currently, Carrie’s NHS treatment consists of daily chemotherapy tablets and hormonal therapy tablets, blood tests every few weeks, monthly injections and regular scans to see how well treatment is working. All of this medication has strong side effects which are detrimental to quality of life. There are further treatments that have been shown to extend survival rates, but currently they are only available privately. The Royal Marsden has estimated costs of approximately £8,000 to treat Carrie as a private patient. Even as an NHS patient, Macmillan estimates the cost of being a cancer patient at being around £570 worse off per month, due to the costs of travel to appointments, lost wages, nutritional needs etc. (https://www.macmillan.org.uk/_images/Cancers-Hidden-Price-Tag-report-England_tcm9-270862.pdf). Carrie has been following the principles of Jane McLelland’s book “How to Starve Cancer (Without Starving Yourself)”, which targets cancer stem cells, but this approach costs approximately £200 per month in supplements and private prescriptions. Let’s help Carrie to lighten the financial burden and free up her precious energy to make her health a priority and be the mother that her daughters deserve by donating any amount that you can. Other ways to help: -Wear a mask. Carrie and other people living with cancer have compromised immune systems, and their chances of surviving cancer diminish greatly if they fall ill, especially with COVID-19. -Prayers/good thoughts/positive vibes. Carrie believes in the power of positivity, joy and love – they are the very best medicine! Please share our fundraiser. Thank you for your support.