Help Keely beat the odds!!!

Many of you may already know Keely but for those who don’t - Keely is a 36 year old mum of 2, born and raised in Canberra.

She is a public servant, a wife, a friend, an aunty and so much more.

In her mid 20’s Keely was diagnosed with a BRCA1 mutation, meaning she was more prone to developing breast cancer at some point in her life. Since that time, she underwent regular scans and checkups for surveillance purposes.

Unfortunately this was not enough to save Keely from coming face to face with cancer. In late 2022 (whilst heavily pregnant) Keely found a lump in her breast. Assuming it was something pregnancy related, and with assurance from doctors, any investigation was put on hold whilst she was pregnant.

At 35 weeks pregnant Keely’s water broke and shortly after she delivered her second daughter, Tottie on 23 October 2022.

Tottie was a small 2.48kg and remained in hospital for another 4 weeks before being able to finally come home.

During this time the lump in Keely’s breast had grown significantly and within a week of bringing Tottie home, Keely had been diagnosed with Stage 3 Triple Negative Breast Cancer .

So Keely’s journey to undergo life saving treatment began… 16 rounds of chemotherapy (with all the side effects numb fingers, nausea, hair loss and general fatigue), followed by a double mastectomy and then icing on the cake, 15 rounds of radiation!

Finally the battle was over when Keely was declared cancer free in June 2023! Now, to get back to “normal” life as a mother of two!

In January 2024 after experiencing headaches and other symptoms, Keely was diagnosed with brain mestasis. Sadly this now means that her cancer is deemed incurable. However,

she plans to do all that she can to put up a fight!

Keely will soon undergo brain radiation aimed at treating her current tumours. From there, with the aim to slow any progression for as long as possible, Keely will require a drug called Lynparza . This drug has been shown to be the most successful for those with BRCA1 mutation, and yet is not funded on PBS.

To give her family hope, she is required by the drug company (who make Lynparza) to self fund the first 6 months of treatment at a cost of $38,000! After which time they will subsidise the next 6 months.

Cancer is not only hard emotionally, but the financial implications are monumental.

So I now ask for your help… if you can spare $5 or maybe more please donate now to help, so Keely can commence this treatment ASAP. A chance to enjoy her daughters and husband. Cancer sucks and life is so unfair but with a little help, I hope we can make this a possibility for their beautiful family!

All my love to you all for reading and for whatever you can contribute!

Thank you