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In Memoriam for Hannah

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This fundraising page was set up by the friends and family of Hannah Pheasant Oldfield to raise money for her cancer treatment. Hannah was a National Health Service (NHS) Public Health and Clinical Dietitian committed to her patients, an accomplished sportswoman and horse whisperer with a love of furry animals (in particular her marmalade cat!), a foodie with a flair for cooking and growing things and a deep interest in psychology, expressionism and all things Jane Austen. Bright, thoughtful, spirited, sensitive and hardworking to a fault, she was a source of energy, joy and love to those fortunate enough to know her.

Hannah and Alex were married in 2012. Busy with enjoying their life together, and with many plans and hopes for the future and so much to look forward to, in April 2017 they were given the devastating news that at just 35 years of age, Hannah had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of stage 4 colon cancer that had spread to her ovaries and peritoneum.

With life and plans put on hold, what followed was 18 gruelling months of treatment which included emergency surgery to remove a tumour and one of Hannah’s ovaries; a radical invasive operation to remove a significant portion of bowel, her other ovary and additional peritoneal tumours; and 16 cycles of chemotherapy including hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC).

The treatment proved successful and all visible signs of the cancer were removed. And though Alex and Hannah knew that now they would not be able to consider the prospect of starting their own family, they were grateful to have each other still and to be able to go back to a more normal life; Hannah went back to work.

But in March 2019, only six months after the final round of chemotherapy, intense pain in Hannah’s abdomen returned and they were given the heart-breaking news that the cancer was back. This came as a terrible blow, in some ways even harder to absorb than the original diagnosis. Worse was to follow, because it appeared that further evidence based treatment options were now very limited. Not wanting to give up the fight, Hannah was accepted onto an immunotherapy clinical trial at the Royal Marsden Hospital.

The treatment was very aggressive; to witness Hannah’s courage and resilience in this was both humbling and awe-inspiring; the hope she infused us all. But it was very hard on her body, and the reality is that her team have told her that while they can try to slow the speed and spread of the disease, the cancer was incurable.

Through this community we were able to give Hannnah a precious additional three years, partly thanks to the private funding we raised to support the experimental immunotherapy treatment, known as tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL ), available at Frankfurt Northwest Hospital that could help to control the cancer, reduce the spread or even cure it. TIL treatment involves taking a specimen of one of Hannah’s tumours, growing and expanding T cells in a laboratory and then infusing the expanded cells back into Hannah together with a growth hormone. These expanded T cells then home in and attack the tumours, functioning a bit like a “personalised vaccine”. Thanks to friends and family we were able to support the treatment that was not available on the NHS and therefore required significant fundraising.

Hannah was an incredible person who has devoted her life to serving people within the NHS. Her joy of life, her love for others, her generosity and gentleness of spirit, her hope for the future, remain undimmed until the end. Hannah and Alex were so grateful to everyone who supported them in reaching their fundraising target and helped give her some more time.

Any unused funds will now be donated to a number of UK Cancer Charities in Hannah's name: Bowel Cancer UK, Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, and Pelican Cancer Foundation. We are making additional plans and will be in touch on how best to honour Hannah's memory.





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Donations 

  • Pitville Student Village Laurie Lee
    • £5 
    • 4 mos
  • Farhana Khan
    • £20 
    • 1 yr
  • James Casey
    • £100 
    • 1 yr
  • Elizabeth Jane Finan
    • £10 
    • 1 yr
  • Jamshid Afshar
    • £100 
    • 1 yr
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Fundraising team: Team Hannah (3)

Meaghan Rogers
Organizer
Raised £4,405 from 28 donations
Hannah Oldfield
Beneficiary
Raised £40,697 from 157 donations
Alex Oldfield
Team member
Raised £250 from 4 donations
This team raised £89,018 from 995 other donations.

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