Helping Kathryn Berecic

Kat is a 33 year old who's gone through unimaginable pain and grief over the past 2 years.

From what started as a fairly routine removal of her appendix due to appendicitis, soon became very serious with the diagnosis of stage 4 cancer which had spread to several of her organs. She's endured two major surgeries of up to 14 hours each, both of which included having a heated chemotherapy poured directly into her abdomen, and has just finished her 20th round of systemic chemo.

Given her cancer is so rare, she's left with few treatment options in Australia to help her battle this aggressive disease. Kat's a fighter who refuses to give up and has spent months researching treatment options overseas. After many discussions with doctors in Australia and around the world, Kat and her family have decided that the safest and most promising treatment at this time is Adoptive Cell Therapy, which is a form of personalised immunotherapy made with your own blood. It involves directly isolating the immune and natural killer cells, activating them and vastly expanding their numbers. These cells are then reintroduced into the body through a series of injections and infusions to significantly boost her body’s capacity to fight against the cancer. As many of her doctors have put it, this is the future of cancer treatment.

As this treatment is not available to Kat in Australia, it involves traveling to Japan a few times a year for ongoing treatment. Given how personalised the treatment is, it comes at a very high cost. The first set of infusions and injections is around $50,000, whilst ongoing treatment is expected to cost in the hundreds of thousands, and she simply can’t do this alone.

It hasn't been an easy road. Kat's had to give up her job as a Prep teacher, her home and her dream of starting a family, but this new treatment gives her hope that there's better days ahead and she can one day fulfil her hopes and dreams.

Supporting Kat by donating to her cause could mean the different between life and death for this young woman who's been to hell and back twice and has so much more life left to live.