My beautiful wife and mother of our two children, Rachael, has recently been diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. As many of you who have had loved ones diagnosed with this terrible illness would understand, it is incredibly surreal and difficult to absorb when your best friend, at only 35 years old, is faced with such adversity.

After Rachael's first surgery, the doctors conducted a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy, which suggested the cancer was stage 2 and had not spread any further. After the surgery, they did some more tests and found that the lump has spread to the surrounding tissue and lymph nodes, which means the cancer is now classified as stage 3. The next step is for Rachael to have another surgery to remove more lymph nodes and breast tissue. At this stage it looks like she will have further treatment extending over 10 months and likely including radiotherapy, chemotherapy and hormone treatment.

The multiple array of surgeries, scans and treatments comes with significant medical gaps or out of pocket expenses which we had certainly not planned for at this time. We are also hoping to fund a cold cap which will hopefully limit Rachael's hair loss as a result of chemotherapy, and costs a further $3000. We have had amazing support from friends and family, and feel so grateful for the many meals, phone calls, flowers and kind wishes of all of you who have reached out - thank you. We would be eternally grateful for any small donation towards Rachael’s treatment, to ease the financial burden during this incredibly difficult time and give Rachael the best chance of beating this terrible disease.