Help Laurinda to pay for Stage 4 Cancer Treatment.

Why did I start this fundraising, and why do I need your help?

Because I need help to cover the costs of the holistic private treatment I am now on.

For the first time I have accepted that this cancer is not only stopping me from working full time in my business, it has impacted on my quality of life, and was very close to wipe out my life due to the serious adverse reactions to the typical cocktail of drugs I was previously on. It was a case of not dying of the illness but dying of the cure.

However, I will continue to fight it using all tools and methods available to me.

I know that to do so, it will continue to cost more money than I still have. And that is why I am asking for your kind assistance. We invested in my treatment in the private sector the whole of last year. This exercise came close to wiping all our savings.

I have now explored other healing alternatives, including holistic therapies that has had success with my type of cancer and helps with things such as:

Money raised will relieve financial stress as just before being diagnosed with cancer, I started my own business in Lagos. But due to the cancer I have not been able to work since then. I did try, but the pain from cancer made it impossible to carry on.

Your donation will assist in sustaining some of my own living expenses, cover the additional costs of vital medicines, transport to hospital and other medical private appointments, as well as assist in covering the cost of the alternative therapies that I have now embarked on.

Medical background!

I started having lower back pain in last quarter of 2022. But thought it was due to a previous injury, so was not too concerned about it.

However, I landed up at the emergency unit of the Portimão public hospital in 2021 and 2022 because of massive back pain that stopped me walking, I was in fact paralyzed with pain. I was put on pain medication and sent home with no further tests, and the pain medication did help for a while.

In May 2023 I once again landed up at the Portimão public hospital with paralyzing back pain, this time I found the emergency ward in a real chaos, and they failed to conduct a proper diagnosis of my situation.

My partner, managed to get me released from Portimão hospital and taken to the Alvor private hospital, where I was diagnosed with stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer with multiple spine fractures.

At the market in Lagos in December 2023 in my wheelchair .

I was informed last year, that this cancer has no cure, but life expectancy with very expensive treatment involving hormone therapy and radiation. The suggested hormone therapy medications costed over over 10 000€ per month.

A request was sent to the the Portimão hospital oncology department in June 2023 for my transfer from the private hospital to them because the monthly costs was having quite an impact on my/our personal savings (I had no insurance).

The transfer and recommended treatment was approved late last year. But since then, my health and quality of life has declined due to the serious after effects of medications and treatments.

Why did I decide to carry on with treatment at Alvor private hospital instead of waiting for the reply from the Portimão public hospital?

As its well know, the waiting list for tests and treatments at the public hospitals is quite extensive, with many tests and treatments taking months and even years before an opening is available.

As I had been informed at Alvor hospital about the fact that it was urgent that I initiated treatment as it was a matter of life and death, I had no real choice than to proceed immediately (I am grateful that I had some savings which allowed me to start the treatments while waiting for the Portimão hospital response).

The outcome of treatments so far

Putting things in context.

In 2021 I was finally in a position to start planing the launch of my own event planning and vintage hire business in Lagos for the beginning of 2023, and which I had put on hold since 2013.

First delay was due to my full time involvement in the campaign to stop offshore and onshore oil exploration and fracking which covered nearly all of the Algarve and a portion of Alentejo.

This campaign resulted in us managing to cancel 9 contracts, with last one being canceled after an exhausting 4 year legal battle that was only finalized in last quarter of 2019.

The facts are, that had the oil exploration using fracking gone ahead, the Algarve economy which is highly dependent on tourism would be greatly negatively affected.

As many of you remember me in Aljezur (in 2015?)

and in Milfontes (Alentejo) in 2018

Second delay was due to the Covid pandemic and the lockdown in 2020. During this time I was involved in getting and providing food for families in Lagos (including Barão São João and Barão de São Miguel), Aljezur and Portimão areas with some costs carried by myself and so many others that helped.

Third delay was due to looking after my late mom full time from October 2020 until her passing in September 2022 as I didn't want her in a care home and away from family.

But before I could put my business into full operation in January 2023, I got sick, but it took until May 2023 to get the correct diagnose of stage 4 Breast Cancer.

Final words

Now that I have given you a brief overview of why I am asking for help, here’s my last words.

If you can't assist financially, its OK. I do understand that not everyone is in a position to help financially. In that case, I request that you share this fundraiser with your family, friends and in your networks like Facebook, etc..

If you are in a position to assist. My humble thanks.

Additionally, if you know of someone that is looking for a business opportunity in the Algarve, as I am now looking for some investing partners to carry the business forward, I would appreciate if you would let me know if you know of someone.

Finally, I would really appreciate if you would pray for my healing and recovery.

Thank you.

Laurinda Seabra

(You can find me on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/laurinda.seabra )