Help my Mother, Marina fight Multiple Myloma

I am Marthiné Janse van Rensburg and I live on a farm in Zeerust, South Africa with my family. I am raising funds to help with my mother who is only 52 and diagnosed with Multiple Myloma, to cover the medical costs for her chemo therapy.

We are a very close family and live a healthy life by living off the land as much as possible. Nowadays cancer is more common than many years ago, and we support people who are dealing with cancer, but always pray that it will never come close to home.

Unfortunately, in October 2017 cancer made its way into our home, when my mother was diagnosed with Multiple Myloma, a cancer of the plasma cells. The plasma cells are a type of white blood cell in the bone marrow and the disease can damage the bone, immune system, kidneys and red blood cells.

My mother immediately started with chemo therapy after the diagnoses. She started with radiation and chemo and later in 2018 she had a stem cell transplant with the hope that it will put her in remission. During the stem cell transplant she needed to stay in hospital for six weeks. We live far from where she received medical treatment, so we could only visit her every weekend.

I was in my first year at college and my younger sisters were still in school. My middle sister needed to fulfil the role of my mother during that six week period, looking after my little sister, while writing her final matric exams. My father had to work on the farm to keep things going.

Sadly, the stem cell transplant wasn't successful and my mother needed to continue with different types of chemo therapy for the next few years.

During 2023 she started with a new chemo therapy that has a 70% success rate in patients. While the medical aid only paid for 6 out of 16 chemo sessions, my mother had to finish the treatment and pay the rest of the medical bills out of their own pocket.

My mother currently receives chemo twice a month for six months and she needs to travel 500 km to the city and back for her therapy. The total cost of the treatment and traveling expenses amount to R418,000 / £17,500 / $22,500.

With this fundraising campaign we aim to pay the outstanding medical bills and traveling costs for her therapy.

We as a family would be very grateful for every donation towards my mother's treatment so we’d like to thank you in advance for your kind contribution - it will make a huge difference!