The Greatest Wealth Is Health

 

History/Background:
Since 1999 my wife (and our mum) Sonja has been battling breast cancer. She has been through many treatment regimes, including multiple surgeries (including the ground breaking removal of her sternum last year), chemotherapies and radiotherapy. Sonja has been through the mill over many years, however this disease has never affected her incredible capacity for love, faith, and her sheer determination to be well!
We believe that God:
Is a loving God who wants Sonja to be well, whole & healthy. He has sustained Sonja and our family through a long and tough battle and continues to do so! She has always been positive and believes she will finally win this battle with God and the help of many believing the same.
Where We Are Now:
Sonja has recently completed her most grueling chemotherapy treatment in July 2011, which was followed by surgery in October (just weeks before our daughter Aimee's wedding). The latest scans in December 2011 show rapid progression of disease. Our oncologist has recommended a new treatment regime consisting of two parts. The first part is a standard intravenous weekly chemotherapy called “Vinorelbine”, which is funded by our health system. The second part to supplement this is a daily dose of 5 tablets of a drug called “Tykerb Lapatinib Ditosylate” which unfortunately is not funded by the Health System. This drug has shown good results overseas and is similar to Herceptin in that it fights cancer for people who have Metastatic HER2 breast cancer (which is the type of cancer Sonja has). The cost associated with this drug to us as a family will be just under $38,000 ($NZD).

How You Can Help:
We hope to raise $38,000 which will cover this unfunded treatment and any contribution towards this goal you can provide would be gratefully appreciated. Please note, we are not a registered charity so will be unable to issue tax receipts.

Please contact us by email at fivekellys@vodafone.co.nz if you like details on how to make a donation.

Other information:
Any funds raised in excess of the required amount will be kept in the above account in case any further unfunded treatment is required. If not we will then work with the “Sweet Louise Foundation” (A great charitable trust set up in NZ to help women and their families coping with secondary breast cancer - http://www.sweetlouise.co.nz) to find another woman in a similar situation.
I have set up a blog (http://keepingsonjawell.blogspot.com) which we will keep updated on Sonja’s progress to being well. We will also update on how we are tracking to achieve the required funds.
With our love and sincere thanks,

Denis, Sonja, Aimee, Kane, Rachel, & Timothy (and Jet our dog)