Please help with a surprise Cancer Diagnosis

Hi, my name is John and on my Wife's birthday (5th January), she was diagnosed with rather aggressive Small Cell Lung Cancer completely by accident. Having had abdominal issues for the last year, my wife and I convinced our GP to send Diane for a CT scan on her abdomen. During this scan, the Radiographer reported an 'Incidental Finding' that required a second scan on her thorax. Our doctor, having seen the results of the second scan referred her immediately for a Bronchoscopy, the results of which, Diane was given on her Birthday of all days.

Since then, it has been a whirlwind of tests and treatment including Diane's first round of Chemotherapy as an in patient at our local hospital. Diane is now on her fourth day post Chemo and it is obvious that she will not be able to do this alone. Part of the treatment is an injection of a drug called Neulasta which promotes the production of white blood cells in bone marrow to counteract the toxic side effects of the Chemo. This has left Diane in agony and requiring assistance.

Diane is a 64 year old Mother of three and Grand Mother to three who will go out of her way to help anyone in need of help and support, not only family or friends but total strangers she meets online. Diane has spent a lot of her past working with conservation and animal rescue charities raising money and awareness through her artwork. Diane is a kind, loving and nurturing person that inspires similar qualities in the people that cross her path on this journey of life.

We, as a couple are of very limited means as Diane injured her back 20 years ago and has been on Disability ever since and I am her part time carer as well as a Caretaker for the property we live within. I essentially work a zero hours contract so if I do not work, I do not get paid. The hours I work cover the rent for our home. I also do not get holiday or sick leave.

We are not the type of people that ask for help, we are usually the one's that people come to for help. To find ourselves in a position that, A, requires so much medical intervention and, B, may cause us to loose our home is terrifying and in such a short period of time since the diagnosis 11 days ago.

If we can reach our goal, it will mean we can secure our home for the next 9-10 months and will pay for the travel costs between home and the hospital when Diane has future rounds of Chemo as a day patient. There are support packages available to help with travel costs but only if you reside outside a 50 km range. We live 40 km away from the hospital and therefor cannot avail of this service. This will increase our average mileage by a factor of 8 every 4 weeks putting extra strain on our already pressured finances.

It has been suggested that Diane start a journal of her treatment to help herself rationalise everything that has happened and what will happen to her moving forward. Diane and I have decided that as well as posting updates online to friends and family, we used to stream on Twitch before the diagnosis, it might be useful to other sufferers of this disease, that we might use this opportunity to do a weekly pre-recorded Q & A sessions on Twitch (treatment allowing) to help those people and to answer questions others might have.

Cancer is a disease that not only effects the patient but those around the patient. So many changes have to happen in so many peoples lives to accommodate the recovery of the patient. So much is still unknown about Cancer that if we manage to exceed the amount required to secure our home moving forward, the extra will be donated to the Irish Cancer Society to help them continue the wonderful work they do to help other people in the same situation as Diane.

Thank you for your time in reading this plea and we hope that you can help us in any way you can. Large or small, any donation will be welcome and your support will mean more to us than you will ever know. If like us, your financial position does not allow a financial contribution, please still support us by sharing this to all of your social media friends.

John and Diane