Alana's battle with terminal breast cancer

*Alana’s fight with breast cancer ended on Thursday 3rd August-thank you for all your support*

Hello lovely people!

My name is Aisling and I am the daughter of stage 4 metastatic breast cancer fighter Alana Marsland.

Alana is a 50-year-old mum to 3 children (aged 21, 20 and 9), partner, daughter, sister, friend and loved by everyone she meets. Those who know her say she lights up every room she walks into with her joy, optimism, positivity and bubbly personality. She really is a one-of-a-kind who will drop everything to help those around her. This time though, she needs your help.

In 2021, Alana was diagnosed with stage 3 triple-negative breast cancer. This is the most aggressive type of breast cancer, hardest to treat and most likely to return. After a long year of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery she was deemed to be in remission by doctors and cancer free in December 2022.

Mid-April 2023, Alana “randomly” broke her collar bone and was believed to have had pneumonia. An MRI was conducted and 3 spots were found on her lungs. Alana’s hope of having a cancer-free and enjoyable 50th birthday was crushed. Her special day was full of blood tests, doctor’s appointments and a MRI which revealed absolute devastation that the cancer had most likely returned.

In the following days, Alana had a lung biopsy and an appointment with her oncologist about the possibilities of what this meant. Only hours after leaving the hospital, Alana’s left side of her body went numb and she was rushed to emergency. An MRI scan showed that she had 2 lesions on her brain. Alana had a PET scan in the following days which lit up like a Christmas tree. This scan diagnosed my mum with Stage 4 terminal metastatic breast cancer. The cancer has spread rapidly throughout her entire body since being cleared 6 months ago. Her broken collarbone was then explained as the cancer was throughout her bones, brain, lymph nodes, liver and lungs. Her collarbone will not heal and this is another battle she faces every day due to her diagnosis.

Alana had brain surgery following this scan to remove 1 of 2 lesions which enabled her to regain feeling in her left side. However, due to the positioning of the 2nd lesion and its size, it is inoperable and affects her mobility and balance severely.

After a week of being in the hospital, Alana is now in the comfort of her own home undergoing chemotherapy. The adverse effects of this treatment have been horrible and it is a constant worry about how long her body can tolerate treatment. She will begin radiation for her brain tumour in the coming weeks, however, we have been told by doctors this cannot be cured.

My mum will never return to work, never drive again and is limited to the everyday tasks she once was able to do. The constant fear and unknowing my family battle is heartbreaking.

I am raising funds for my mum and our family to help support us during this life-changing and devastating time. The constant expense of medications, health resources, psychology, hospital parking, mobility resources, taking time off work to care for Alana, etc is extreme and taking a toll on my family. To think these are the “early days” of her journey and will progressively get worse is devastating mentally, physically and financially. Any support you can contribute to my family is appreciated beyond words can ever describe. We are a very proud family and asking for your help has not come easy.

With the funds raised from this page, we endeavour to purchase Alana a wheelchair and treat her to a weekend away with her family amongst all the other expenses foreseen and unforeseen that come with this horrible disease.

Thank you so much for all your support! I send infinite love and appreciation to everyone. Xo