Help Muff Rowe kick cancer in the face

Hi, our names are Sonya, Maggie and Kate and we are fundraising for one of our oldest friends.

Muff Rowe is a schoolmate, flatmate and soulmate of over 30 years. She grew up with us in Tasmania, but Queensland has since become her home. She is a strong, loving mother to 15-year-old Charlie, and is facing an incredibly challenging time.

Eight months ago, Muff was diagnosed with cervical cancer and Stage 3 lymphoma. Cancer is never fair, but when it happens to someone who is fit, healthy, a personal trainer, nutrition advisor and avid kickboxer it feels especially so.

Since February she has undergone multiple blood transfusions, four courses of chemo, a bone marrow transplant, and a serious complication with fungal pneumonia (which has a fatality rate of over 70%).

By July things were looking up. However, six weeks later the tumours were back with a vengeance. The latest development is that the cancer is now in her spinal cord. She is undergoing painful lumbar punctures to drain the fluid. She has been approved to undergo Car T cell therapy, but she needs to be stabilised first.

She has been fighting so so bravely, maintaining a sense of humour and an incredibly positive attitude, but the punches just seem to keep coming.

Muff has been fiercely independent for as long as we've known her. She grew up with more than her fair share of challenges, having lost her own mother to cancer when she was very young. She has always been generous and has never asked for help of any kind. The fact that she is giving us her blessing to ask now speaks volumes.

Until this week, Muff's Plan A was to return to Tasmania with Charlie. It now seems that Plan B is more realistic. This is to stay put in Townsville where her medical team is on hand and where Charlie has access to a supportive school offering good pastoral care, and daily transport.

Muff just needs to have the basics covered - rent, groceries, utilities, school uniforms - so she can focus on her health without the constant financial stress she is under at the moment. Working has not been a possibility for a long time now and the coffers are empty.

As the last six months have shown us, the future is unknown. Whether Muff has weeks, months or years to live, she deserves to spend them with Charlie and without worry.

Cancer is a bitch and Muff needs all her energy. She has shown us what a fighter she is, defying the odds over and over again, but it's such a relentless battle. Please help us help her.