Stage 4 Cancer - help Tammy with treatment costs

In July 2021, my sister Tammy was diagnosed with Stage IV Adenocarcinoma, a non-smokers lung cancer. This is her 3rd cancer in 4 years. She is a fighter I can tell you!!!! 

She has successfully survived breast cancer, followed closely with having a third of one lung removed due to a large tumour (it now appears it was missed while she was being treated for the breast cancer), however, this current cancer is the most challenging to fight and if we are to be brutally honest, to survive. 

The statistics for surviving this cancer (EGFR with a deletion on Exon 19) can be so psychologically defeating and so overwhelming to your entire approach and fight, you may just think why bother…but we choose not to focus on that! 

Everyone who knows Tammy though knows she would rather focus on what can be done to live her remaining years (that’s the goal!) in decent enough health, to be active & there for her son. Like all of us, she just wants to have a fighting chance to live. This is essentially important for her 6 year old son, Bram. She must be there for him. 

Tammy’s reality: she has been told that the cancer will next appear in her bones then her brain…the oncologist guaranteed 100% this will happen, there’s no avoiding it…try & process being told that. 

The cost of Osimertinib through private purchase is between $8,000-$12,000 per script (30 tablets, one month supply). Statistics for survival alter drastically if she is not able to continue with the Osimertinib as well as Chemotherapy. Numerous countries in the world have multiple treatments that can occur at the same time however it is not necessarily the case in Australia. We know there are lung cancer patients out there who have been through numerous lines of treatment and still alive 10 years later. Some of them had many areas of mestastasis (brain, bones, liver etc) but because of the treatments they have had they are stable or even in remission with no evidence of disease. They have had the best choices of treatment available in the world. They have also done other support treatment alongside this. We are wanting this for Tammy. The best she can get, which is what any of us would want. Being restricted to the public hospital system in Australia isn’t the option we want to be stuck with. It just isn’t flexible enough or offer what other countries do. We are thinking globally and as big as we can to make sure that she gets the best. The question we would be asking the oncologist when a new treatment is needed is “Is this the best treatment available in the world and if not how do we go about getting it”.

Her treatment so far: since diagnosis 9 months ago, Tammy has been lucky to be on a targeted treatment for her type of lung cancer, called Osimertinib (Tagrisso) which is covered under the PBS Scheme here in Australia, meaning she has been able to get the treatment for free. This treatment is aimed at reducing tumour size (she has over 20 in one lung and 10 in the other) and prolonging life - it is not a cure. There is a 100% truth that her cancer will still mutate and progress and she will need another treatment. 

Three scans later and we can see that although the targeted treatment is still working, there may be a risk she will be taken off of it if the Oncologist believes it’s no longer doing as well as it should. Her latest scan has seen an increase in size in a few of the tumours. This may be due to the fact she’s reduced the number of supportive treatments she was doing because they’re so expensive but we don’t know for sure (it was costing approx $2900 per month).

Why are we fundraising? The research has shown the effectiveness of Osimertinib being used in conjunction with other forms of treatment i.e. chemotherapy. The issue? She only qualifies for this treatment as a ‘monotherapy’ under the PBS, meaning when mutation and progression starts, she will be taken off of it so a different treatment can be started (most likely chemotherapy). PBS will only cover one treatment.

We are preparing for the next phase, doing everything possible to have the option of purchasing the Osimertinib through private purchase. Please help give her every fighting chance to survive this by donating even $5 if that’s all you can afford and sharing. 

For everyone who has generously donated so far, please let me express how thankful we are and how incredibly valuable your support has been. Tammy has been able to use the funds to pay for oxygen therapy, naturopathic and herbal supplements (specifically designed for a person going through her type of cancer and treatment) and practical help at home to both her and our elderly mum.

Thank you for taking the time to read this plea for help. We know a lot of people who have sadly lost loved ones to terminal illness and our hearts break for them.

Take care of each other & stay safe,

Sabena xo