Hey hockey community!
My name is Kaitlin Nobbs and my sister, Jaimee, and I are reaching out to you all on behalf of my family, for my dad - Michael Nobbs. You may know my dad from either playing with or against him, being coached by him, or just within the hockey world. He represented Australia himself and played an important role in paving the way for hockey in this country, through his time in the Kookaburras and now coaching.
More importantly though, he is the kindest man, who is always willing to help others however he can. His support has enabled me to live out my dream of playing hockey at the top level for 10+ years, which would never have been possible without his love and dedication for me and the sport. But now, he is in need of some support himself.
For those of you who don’t know, dad has been battling cancer for the past 5 years, starting out as Stage 3 NCLC adenocarcinoma lung cancer, which metastasised into his brain, legs, pelvis and lungs. All of which have been treated through surgeries, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and even gamma knife surgery to remove the tumours from his brain. The toll this has taken on dad and his ability to live, work and support himself is immense, and now, he is faced with a new challenge.
Dad has received the unfortunate news that the cancer has now metastasised into his bones, which requires a new and expensive treatment to treat, or otherwise slow down the progression of the bone mets. At this stage, we have exhausted all mainstream treatment options and this newer, experimental treatment has provided us with the hope that he may be able to not only slow the progression of the bone cancer, but also target and destroy some of it.
This new drug is called amivantamab, that will be used in conjunction with chemotherapy. The problem is, it is not on the PBS yet, and it is expensive! The treatment will run over a 6 month period, which includes $12,500 in upfront costs, and an extra $7,700 for every 3 weeks of treatment. Taking us to a total of $66,400.
This amount is only going to help cover costs of this new drug, and not any further costs of living/supporting dad while he undergoes treatment. So, we are reaching out to our wonderful hockey community in the hopes that we may be able to help dad find the money to afford this treatment, and alleviate this massive stress for him so that he can focus solely on recovering and getting better.
Dad’s love for hockey is still as strong as ever and he wants more than anything to continue to give back to this special community. However, right now, he needs your help.
My family and I would be so incredibly grateful if you would consider donating any amount to helping us support dad on his road to recovery.
With love
The Nobbs family ❤️
