Help Katherine have hyperthermia cancer treatment in Germany

In July 2022, after finding a lump, Katherine was diagnosed with Stage 3c breast cancer. She had three large breast tumours and her skin, muscle, and multiple lymph nodes were affected. She has been through 6 rounds of IV chemotherapy, a radical mastectomy where she also lost much of her pectoral muscle and 44 lymph nodes, followed by 30 sessions of radiotherapy. Since then, Katherine has been having further endocrine therapy and two more years of twice-daily oral chemotherapy (1 more year to go). It's been a very, very difficult few years and the ongoing chemotherapy is really proving exhausting.

In the middle of this, we are now facing further decisions about what we can do to reduce the chance of recurrence. After seeking a second opinion from a well-respected integrative oncologist, Dr Wafaa Abdel-Hadi, concerns have been raised about Katherine’s lungs and her high risk of recurrence. We have been advised to seek further treatment in Germany at the Arcadia Clinic, a specialised centre for advanced cancer care.

The cost of the treatment is around £26,000, with additional costs for travel. This will cover scans, IV treatments targeted to Katherine's cancer profile and (importantly) multiple sessions of full body and local hyperthermia. Whilst it's not supposed to be very comfortable (imagine having a really high fever induced repeatedly for a few hours every other day!), these treatments have shown good success at minimising/slowing the chance of recurrence, especially for cancers growing close to the chest wall. Whilst the treatment will be tough, we're hopeful it will boost the likelihood of Katherine staying well for longer. The treatment may need to be repeated in a few years, but for now, we want to follow the treatment programme we have been specifically advised to take, maximising our chances of Katherine's recovery and quality of life.

Our children are aged 10, 8 and 5 and we want to have many more years of adventures and fun as a family, so we are doing everything we can think of to follow the treatment advice we have been given.

We will aim to fund what we can, but if you want to consider supporting us, no matter how small, that would really help and make a world of difference to our family. Thanks for your kindness and for thinking of us.