The Fight for Sao (Sejad)

This is a request straight from the heart for our friend, Sejad, known to all as Sao.

Sao, at the young age of 41, is an amazing person, a loving husband and father to two beautiful teenage boys. His wife, Christine, is the most amazing and supportive person we've ever met, doing absolutely everything she can to support Sao and improve his quality of life.

In August 2023, just as Sao was celebrating five years of remission from Stage 3B Lymphoma, he received the devastating diagnosis of Stage 4 Peritoneal Cancer. This came with a terminal prognosis of only 12-18 months with standard care.

Despite this crushing news and the lack of viable surgical options in Australia, Sao and Christine have been totally relentless, financing multiple trips overseas for state-of-the-art medical treatments in places like Mexico and Germany. Some of those individual treatments alone cost upwards of $40,000 AUD each (with multiple treatments per trip).

This latest, comprehensive medical program in Europe, which offers Sao the best chance for extending his life, is the most critical and most costly yet, adding up to over $140,000 AUD just for the treatment itself.

After exhausting standard options and other treatments around the world, Sao is now receiving innovative regional chemotherapy under the care of Dr. Karl Aigner in Germany, one of the few doctors in the world pioneering this targeted treatment approach. Unlike traditional chemotherapy that circulates through the whole body, regional chemotherapy delivers anti-cancer medication directly into the affected organs and blood supply.

This allows for much higher concentrations at the tumour sites while minimizing damage to the rest of the body. The procedure is intricate and performed in a highly specialized facility, often involving isolated perfusion, intra-arterial infusions, and organ-targeted perfusion cycles designed to attack the cancer where it lives most aggressively.

Each treatment is carefully tailored to Sao’s individual condition, targeting the peritoneal and pleural areas, with the goal of controlling tumour growth, reducing fluid buildup, and improving his quality of life. While this therapy is complex and still in its early stages for him, regional chemotherapy has offered meaningful results for many patients in similar situations with some even achieving complete remission.

It’s still early days, the beginning of a new and challenging journey, but we are already seeing encouraging signs of response. Sao is meeting each day with courage, resilience, and hope.

His care team believes that continued treatment could bring real stability and the chance for more time, and that hope means everything to us.

The Financial Challenge is Overwhelming

This international medical journey has created an immense financial burden. The cost of this specialised, lifesaving treatment program alone is already in excess of $140,000 AUD. This figure covers only the medical side; it doesn't include the enormous secondary expenses for this multi-week trip: flights, accommodation, food, medication, and supportive care for him and his carer.

Compounding this stress, Sao can no longer work, losing their main source of income, and his wife is working part-time while trying to care for him and their two teenage boys. Sao is too proud to ask for help, but his illness has made it financially necessary, and he's exhausted from the treatment itself. We, his mates, are kicking off this campaign on his behalf so he can focus entirely on healing.

A Critical Need for Comfort: The Flight Home

Beyond the major treatment costs, there is one immediate and vital need we are trying to meet for Sao’s comfort.

He faces an extremely difficult 20+ hour flight home after his treatment finishes. Last time, the long journey was excruciating. The medical advice is clear: Sao desperately needs to be able to keep his legs elevated to manage his symptoms and pain during the journey. This requires an upgrade to a business class seat, which is currently out of reach financially.

Your donation will directly help us fund this urgent upgrade, guaranteeing him a comfortable and dignified journey home to his family.

How Your Donation Helps

Every dollar raised will be utilised for:

1. Lifesaving Treatment: Covering some of the outstanding costs of his specialised treatment program in Germany.

2. Essential Travel & Living: Accommodation, flights, and food for Sao

3. Immediate Comfort: Securing the vital business class seat for the 20+ hour return flight (where he requires his feet elevated due to fluid buildups from the treatments)

We know it's a huge goal, but we are asking our community to rally around Sao. If you can't donate, please utilise the power of your network and share this link far and wide.

Let’s help our mate Sao fight this battle without the added stress of financial ruin. Thank you for your kindness and support.

On behalf of Sao (Sejad) and his family,

Cristian Ambrozie