UPDATE DECEMBER 2025

Hello to all, the year has gone by in a flash so we thought it was time for an update!

The last 8 months have been tough but Kristi is hanging in there with her support system. Back in March when she diagnosed with 4 brain tumours it turned out 1 was actually a broken blood vessel! Over a few months 2 tumours were eradicated through neurosurgery, radiation and chemotherapy, the large tumour has reduced to one third of its original size so we are hoping that it will have completely gone by the next MRI. Kristi is now on 3 weekly maintenance IV immunotherapy which she will be on for life, the medication is to keep the cancer at bay. Her oncologist wants her to lose weight because she put on 40kg over the last 3 years due to all the medication. This is essential because oestrogen is produced in fat cells and her cancer is oestrogen positive meaning it feeds the cancer so the hormones needs to be reduced as much as possible so she has to have semaglutide on top of all the other meds she takes which, unfortunately, are weight gaining drugs so her body is fighting itself.

She has been keeping busy by helping Imogen’s school and recently organised the school disco for 300 children! She is also doing advocacy work in the donor conception sphere, Imogen was conceived via sperm donor so Kristi has a keen interest in law reform and dispersing education about the topic. This volunteer work is good to exercise her mind and feel productive but unfortunately she is not well enough to do paid work because her health is unstable - she needs lots of rest and not have extra pressure put on her because she also needs to manage her mental health given she lives with bipolar disorder.

Her expenses remain high with most of her funds going towards support workers who help with meal prep, cleaning, laundry, childcare and generally helping the house keep running. Unfortunately people with chronic illnesses fall through the cracks with there being little government support. She has though found an organisation who pay for her Uber trips for medical appointments, it’s cheaper to get an Uber than use hospital parking! And Camp Quality have gifted Imogen and Kristi a 4 night stay in Umina Holiday Park for some respite.

Wishing you all a great Christmas and New Year.

Amber xxx

UPDATE MARCH 2025

Thank you so much for your kindness, our family has been blown away by the level of support Kristi has received. xxx

In 2022/23 we raised $22k which kept Kristi and Imogen afloat during the long harrowing treatments and recovery. The amount raised since then is again contributing to Kristi and Imogen’s considerably increased living expenses than the first time around while she takes on the brain tumours. The new treatment will consist of neurosurgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and immunotherapy in the hope that the metastatic cancer does not spread further. Kristi will then need to recover; she still hasn't even fully recovered from the first time around because the treatment is so aggressive.

From the bottom of my heart I want to thank you so much for your incredible generosity.

Amber x

Photo: Kristi and Imogen 6 hours after neurosurgery on Monday 3rd March

UPDATE FEBRUARY 2025

It’s with a heavy heart that I am writing this update. Kristi has now been diagnosed with 4 brain tumours after having an 18 month run of no evidence of cancer. She has PET scans every 6 months and her latest scan on Thursday revealed the new tumours that have sprung up.

If you are in a position to be able to donate and/or share this fundraiser it would help so much. Kristi is a single mum with an 8 year old living on a disability pension in social housing, now she will once again face all the additional costs of cancer over and above the Medicare system - non-PBS medication, cleaners, meal services, support workers, informal childcare, transport, parking and the list goes on. Last time we raised $22k for Kristi which she stretched for over 18 months with not a cent wasted.

Thank you so much for helping my big sister,

Amber xxx

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MAY 2022

Hello All,

My lovely 49 year old sister Kristi was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer in May, unfortunately by the time it was diagnosed the cancer was already in her bones. She is a dedicated single mum with a happy vibrant 6 year old daughter, Imogen, who she conceived via a sperm donor. Kristi also has bipolar disorder and fought for years to be well enough to be a mum before she tried to conceive and now has another huge challenge ahead of her, one that she is desperate to overcome so that she can continue to live her best life with Imi, her family and friends.

Kristi is well known in the Erskineville community due to her creation of a communal garden and her love of ‘PIF’ groups - the paying it forward of goods, services and kindness and through these groups has made solid local connections. For the second year in a row she is the class parent at Imogen’s school, she had always wanted to be very involved with the school so it was a bit of a blow that she was in hospital recovering from her double masectomy on the day of the school fete instead of being able to help, she is however organising the school disco which should be a lot of fun. As a sole parent she struggled to find support so she formed a network of other single mothers who used donor sperm and hosted numerous social outings and made some great friendships with the other women, she has also helped other single mums connect with each other in their local areas. Kristi is very involved in the international donor conception community and to this end created a Facebook group which is growing daily with over 2100 members who go there for support as parents of donor conceived children, this has given them the opportunity to join a wider community of kind informative people and keeps Kristi quite busy. Kristi has now also created a support group for Australian and New Zealand single mums with breast cancer.

Her treatment is expensive, even with Australia’s awesome Medicare the gap is quite large eg, she has an IV drug with her chemo which is not on the PBS and is priced at $6k which is a significant cost especially for a single mum. She needed a dishwasher, a cleaner and a food service so that she doesn’t have to worry about many household chores while undergoing gruelling treatment plus there are all the costs like childcare, parking, prescription medications, expensive creams and ointments for radiotherapy, specialist fees, scans, etc. The cost is considerable because it encompasses 5 months of chemotherapy, a double mastectomy and lymph nodes removal, 7 weeks of radiotherapy, ovaries and fallopian tubes removal and 9 months of more chemotherapy plus 10 years of hormone therapy.

Your ongoing support is greatly appreciated.

Love,

Amber