Help Mel in her time of need

Hi everyone, I’m fundraising for my cousin Mel. As most people who know her will be aware, Mel has been fighting the hardest battle of her life for the last couple of months. As a single mum and living so far away from family supports plus travelling constantly 40mins one way to the hospital, it’s becoming a real financial strain, which is the last thing she needs right now. First a bit of background: Mel was diagnosed in November 2023 with head and neck cancer after a suspicious ulcer had been growing on her tongue for about 3 weeks. She booked in for surgery after the medical team said this would be the best way to handle the cancer and give her the best quality of life going forward. The plan was for radiation to follow surgery and then chemo would be added if needed. The surgery, undertaken December 14, 2023, involved removing the tumor from her tongue, as well as a bunch of lymph nodes as the doctors were aware of the spread to the lymph nodes. The surgery was told to be a success. However, once they analysed the tumors using a microscope, they found the primary tumor from her tongue was 1cm bigger than they had previously thought and it was close to the deep margins. She originally went private for surgery but radiation was going to cost several thousand dollars so Mel had to go through the public system instead. The start date for radiation was, February 5, 2024. However, before Mel could make it to then, she was getting a choking sensation in her neck that made her feel like she wouldn’t be able to breathe soon. January 26, 2024, Mel was taken to the hospital where a CT scan revealed a recurrence of the cancer. What Mel didn’t know at the time was that it looked like the tumors were actually bigger than the original tumors. She was then transferred to another hospital and kept in for a PET scan which revealed the cancer had spread to her spine. The plan changed dramatically to chemotherapy/immunotherapy with the first cycle on February 8, 2024. Before the next round of chemo, Mel undertook a blood test that revealed her WBC was too low for treatment. It was 0.5. The doctor had her come in early on treatment day to take bloods again in case they had bounced back in the last couple of days. Meanwhile Mel tried her best to google foods to help increase WBC and consumed green teas, mangos, walnuts, almonds and peanut butter. Thankfully the next bloods showed that her WBC was enough for treatment. However, the doctor was worried about a skin rash that she had and was concerned it was caused by the immunotherapy, so it was decided treatment would be pushed back a week at which time the immunotherapy would be administered at an 80% rate. At first, Mel was relieved as it meant more time for her to recuperate and regain her strength. But that didn't happen, she spent most of her time in bed because of the extreme lethargy and the swelling in her neck continued to get worse. The tumours were threatening her airways and she had to have a tracheotomy put in. The tracheotomy is currently what is keeping her alive at the moment. Due to the tracheotomy procedure, chemo was once again pushed back. Pushing back chemotherapy did nothing to slow the rapid growth of the cancer cells. Managing treatment as welling as trying to look after her 13 year old son has taken its toil on Mel. As her family, we have tried our best to help her in anyway, but it is hard, considering we all live 5 hours minimum from her. We would appreciate any and all support in this trying time.