Meet my beautiful wife of eight years, Sarah. She is the mother of our three children, aged five, four and 11 months. Anyone who has met Sarah would describe her as warm, gentle, loving, and friendly – she is just a joy. I am so thankful to have her in my life.
Unfortunately, the last two years of Sarah’s life have been extremely hard. First, I was diagnosed with rapidly growing testicular cancer, which was a very worrying time for her. Thankfully it was removed before it spread. Then, six months ago, Sarah lost her mother and father to COVID-19 in Zimbabwe, just 10 days apart from each other, and was unable to travel to their funerals.
She was trying to come to terms with their loss when she started having severe pains in her leg, and a few days later, immense pain in her stomach. After an endoscopy, colonoscopy, and biopsy, we were told she had stage 4 cancer that started in her stomach, had spread to her lymph nodes, and is inoperable.
After a PET scan on the rest of her body, we were told the cancer had spread to the bone all throughout her left hip and groin. There is also cancer in her right hip, left shoulder and lower spine. Though this type of cancer is not rare itself, apparently it is very rare in someone her age (38).
She has been given just two years to live.
This news has been such a blow to our family. Our children have gone from having a happy, normal family life – going to the beach, to the park, walking to school – to having a mum who is housebound in a wheelchair, unable to walk, with no energy and severe pain. It has been devastating for Sarah as a mother, as she can’t be there the way she wants to be for our babies.
Her prognosis has been the saddest news of my life, and one I just cannot accept.
The oncology department at Fiona Stanley Hospital, where she started chemo and radiation in November 2021, has told us that a treatment called immunotherapy may provide some hope. This is when the immune system builds up more of its own cells to fight cancer. In some patients and studies, it has completely stopped the cancer in its tracks. Unfortunately, this treatment is still on trial, so is therefore not funded by the government yet.
Sarah needs 20 treatments of immunotherapy, which will cost us around $53,000 as it's not publicly funded by the government. If Sarah’s body doesn't accept the treatment, we will need more funds to help with her quality of life e.g. medical bills, or medication that isn't covered by our healthcare system here in Australia.
I can no longer work full time as I have become Sarah’s full-time carer. Working one day a week can keep us afloat for day to day living, however, we can’t afford this immunotherapy treatment. So as much as I'm embarrassed to ask for help, for the sake of my wife’s life and our little ones, I am asking for your support.
We would really appreciate any donation, even if it's $1. We are so blessed and thankful for companies like RCA, for the generosity of people who donate to our family, and for those who send us their well wishes, thoughts, prayers and love.
Words will never express how thankful we are.
With love,
Sarah’s husband Daniel