Meady still needs us!

The Mead family have had their everyday life turned upside down.

Their son and brother, Nathan (Meady) 20yr, third year at uni, working part-time to support himself started 2022 feeling pain in his knee. He then started to notice other changes, including sleeping more, feeling nauseated, and having trouble working through a four-hour shift. He didn’t even have a regular Doctor, so when he saw one he was given Nurofen and his mum sent him to a physio. Things continued to get worse so 6 weeks later an MRI showed what became a nightmare.

What was eventually found was stage 4 metastatic melanoma.

Immunotherapy was started and stopped quite quickly due to Nathan responding with severe side effects. Including loss of eyesight and the need for steroids now forever. The current treatment is also causing side effects which means he is off them more than on. Target therapy which is a type of chemotherapy or cancer blocker has a limited time to work. Options are running out.

So the family has looked into many treatments around the world and has opted to try a vaccine available in Adelaide. This means costly travel expenses to and from Adelaide regularly for a very expensive injection. This vaccine helps the body find cancer cells. The trial has had very good results, but only available privately. Therefore no costs incurred are covered by our government.

Although the family has top medical cover (which has been wonderful for the many hospitalisations, biopsies and surgeries), it does not cover the other many out-of-pocket expenses. Specialists' appointments are partially covered by Medicare, but when you consider weekly appointments with Palliate, Oncologist, Endocrinologist, Retinal Surgeon and the list going on and the costs pile high.

We are asking you to help out the Mead family if you can. Meady needs us! Time is so precious.