Kristen's Ovarian Cancer Treatment
Donation protected
Over the past few days Kristen, myself and our family have been so overwhelmed with all of the love, kindness and heartfelt messages.
We are settled in now at the Mater and will let things take their course as we get further testing, and her team of consultants doing everything they can.
As most of you know Kristen recently started treatment of Mekinist (Trametinib), a MEK inhibitor, which is not yet approved but showing promising results in her sub type of Low-Grade Ovarian Cancer.
It has been a mammoth task negotiating to get Kristen access to the drug, with her oncology team at Icon advocating, Novartis the pharma company giving us a reduced compassionate price from $10,000 per month to $2,500 per month. Her private health insurance agreed to fund this amount for 6 months ($15,000), but on the condition that she cannot be treated in a private hospital which is where her primary care team are located.
We spent a scary and confronting two weeks at the public hospital, they have done everything they can for her and consulted us about preparing for the end. Her amazing team here at the Mater want to do more, to investigate and exhaust all possible options. Yesterday I made the decision to move Kristen to the Mater for this reason and as a result, we have now lost the funding for the Mekinist.
I know that many of you want to help, and it is with a heavy heart I ask for contributions towards the cost of her treatment, as it is now going to be a huge financial burden for us.
It was never the scenario we wanted, Kristen and I have always been so passionate about raising funds that go towards research and raising Teal awareness.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!
Kristen’s Story:
For those that don’t know Kristen or who may be new to her journey, Kristen was diagnosed with Stage 3C Low-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer in November 2013 at the age of 21. We were living in London at the time on a working visa, and it came completely out of the blue. With no family history, and minimal symptoms leading up to her diagnosis (as is often the case with Ovarian Cancer, and no screening test).
Kristen endured an 11 hour “debulking” surgery which included a full hysterectomy, and removal of her entire large bowel giving her a permanent ileostomy stoma. As well as 6 rounds of aggressive chemotherapy. At that point, Kristen was declared NED “no evidence of disease”. Despite being on “maintenance” treatment to try to prevent a recurrence, just 12 months later the cancer had come back.
Kristen has never been out of treatment. Everything she has tried has either slowed, reduced or kept her tumours stable for periods of time before the cancer progressed again. Her body has endured various chemotherapies, clinical trials of targeted and immunotherapy agents, hormone therapies, 4 more surgeries and radiation. She has just about exhausted all options.
From early on in her diagnosis, I focused on learning everything I could about the disease and keeping up to date with what research was going on. Whereas, Kristen wanted to give back, speak up and make a difference. She launched herself into TEAL! She blogged, she shared her story, she fundraised. Kristen has been the guest speaker at numerous charity events; campaigned politically
and addressed the prime minister and national leaders. She has raised awareness through TV and brand campaigns, all of which have cumulatively raised millions of dollars for cancer charities. She was also recognised for these efforts as a QLD finalist in the 2019 Young Australian of the Year Awards. Kristen also played an integral role volunteering as the Queensland coordinator to bring the international Survivors Teaching Students educational program into Australian universities.
Kristen has travelled to conferences, symposiums and other events across Australia and the US and loves nothing more than being with her Teal sisters and bringing the Ovarian Cancer community together. There is so much more of this world to see, and Kristen’s passion for life has never been stronger.
We are settled in now at the Mater and will let things take their course as we get further testing, and her team of consultants doing everything they can.
As most of you know Kristen recently started treatment of Mekinist (Trametinib), a MEK inhibitor, which is not yet approved but showing promising results in her sub type of Low-Grade Ovarian Cancer.
It has been a mammoth task negotiating to get Kristen access to the drug, with her oncology team at Icon advocating, Novartis the pharma company giving us a reduced compassionate price from $10,000 per month to $2,500 per month. Her private health insurance agreed to fund this amount for 6 months ($15,000), but on the condition that she cannot be treated in a private hospital which is where her primary care team are located.
We spent a scary and confronting two weeks at the public hospital, they have done everything they can for her and consulted us about preparing for the end. Her amazing team here at the Mater want to do more, to investigate and exhaust all possible options. Yesterday I made the decision to move Kristen to the Mater for this reason and as a result, we have now lost the funding for the Mekinist.
I know that many of you want to help, and it is with a heavy heart I ask for contributions towards the cost of her treatment, as it is now going to be a huge financial burden for us.
It was never the scenario we wanted, Kristen and I have always been so passionate about raising funds that go towards research and raising Teal awareness.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!
Kristen’s Story:
For those that don’t know Kristen or who may be new to her journey, Kristen was diagnosed with Stage 3C Low-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer in November 2013 at the age of 21. We were living in London at the time on a working visa, and it came completely out of the blue. With no family history, and minimal symptoms leading up to her diagnosis (as is often the case with Ovarian Cancer, and no screening test).
Kristen endured an 11 hour “debulking” surgery which included a full hysterectomy, and removal of her entire large bowel giving her a permanent ileostomy stoma. As well as 6 rounds of aggressive chemotherapy. At that point, Kristen was declared NED “no evidence of disease”. Despite being on “maintenance” treatment to try to prevent a recurrence, just 12 months later the cancer had come back.
Kristen has never been out of treatment. Everything she has tried has either slowed, reduced or kept her tumours stable for periods of time before the cancer progressed again. Her body has endured various chemotherapies, clinical trials of targeted and immunotherapy agents, hormone therapies, 4 more surgeries and radiation. She has just about exhausted all options.
From early on in her diagnosis, I focused on learning everything I could about the disease and keeping up to date with what research was going on. Whereas, Kristen wanted to give back, speak up and make a difference. She launched herself into TEAL! She blogged, she shared her story, she fundraised. Kristen has been the guest speaker at numerous charity events; campaigned politically
and addressed the prime minister and national leaders. She has raised awareness through TV and brand campaigns, all of which have cumulatively raised millions of dollars for cancer charities. She was also recognised for these efforts as a QLD finalist in the 2019 Young Australian of the Year Awards. Kristen also played an integral role volunteering as the Queensland coordinator to bring the international Survivors Teaching Students educational program into Australian universities.
Kristen has travelled to conferences, symposiums and other events across Australia and the US and loves nothing more than being with her Teal sisters and bringing the Ovarian Cancer community together. There is so much more of this world to see, and Kristen’s passion for life has never been stronger.
Organizer
Elsa Larsen
Organizer
Lutwyche QLD
