Sara's Brain Cancer Treatments

Dear Family and Friends, Old and New,

We are the family of Sara Joy Hawkins, and this fundraiser is organized by her life partner Guido. As some of you know, Sara has been dealing with a malignant brain cancer since 2019. Unfortunately, we learned in November that the cancer has recurred for a second time.

Right now, we are coordinating treatment across two medical teams—one in the UK and one in Germany. The costs of travel and coordination between these countries will add up quickly. While we continue to pursue conventional treatment options (surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy), these approaches are limited. We have therefore also begun exploring immunotherapy experimental treatments that are not covered by statutory health insurance. Conservative estimates suggest that the costs of these treatments alone could exceed £100,000.

We are thus raising funds to help coordinate Sara’s care, cover housing and transportation costs during treatments in different countries, and incorporate immunotherapy into her range of options.

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The Road So Far…

In 2019, Sara suffered a seizure. The story of this incident, and Guido’s slight incompetence throughout, is retrospectively a bit funny. Sara and Guido were traveling in Italy to meet Guido’s family in Genoa. While in the car, Sara dropped the piece of focaccia she was eating and began convulsing. Guido pulled over, and believing she was choking, pulled her out of the car and tried the Heimlich manoeuvre. When he turned her around to check if the manoeuvre had worked, he did not realize she had lost consciousness, and accidentally dropped her on her forehead. He then tried CPR while barking at onlookers to call an ambulance. Sara came to a few minutes later, confused, with dirt on her forehead and bruised ribs from Guido’s clumsy CPR. She tried to get up, but a frazzled Guido decided it was best for both of them to stay laying on the ground while waiting for the ambulance, as a crowd of onlookers watched awkwardly from above. Sara was taken to a hospital in Italy, then discharged with instructions to follow up at home in Germany.

In Germany, an MRI scan revealed that the seizure had been caused by a tumour growing close to Sara’s language regions. A biopsy confirmed this to be a low-grade astrocytoma. Sara’s family quickly gathered around her; her mother Julie flew in from the US, and her sisters Susana and Stephanie from Portugal, with Stephanie and her family boisterously filling the hospital. Awake surgery by the excellent neurosurgical team at the University Hospital in Giessen (Germany) achieved a large resection. Sara was up and about the next day, already asking to go to the coffee shop right after her operation.

Following surgery, Sara underwent radiotherapy and then six months of chemotherapy. Before starting chemo, she and Guido travelled to Italy and Portugal to visit all the families. This happened just as COVID-19 began to spread, and Guido unexpectedly became one of Portugal’s earliest COVID patients. Sara, despite testing positive, refused to show any symptoms, while Guido made a fuss about his mild “man-fever.” Once released from lockdown, they returned to Germany, where Sara completed six months of chemotherapy. Afterwards, she was placed on a watch-and-wait routine.

Over the next two years, life largely returned to normal. Sara returned to her research, and in February 2022 she successfully defended her PhD! Later that year, Guido was offered a faculty position at the University of Southampton in the UK. Aside from a mild scare due to asymptomatic radionecrosis, Sara’s checkups had gone well thus far, so Sara and Guido prepared to move their lives from Germany to the UK.

In April 2023, a few months after settling in the UK, Sara and Guido returned to Giessen for Sara’s last planned check-up there. Unfortunately, the results showed that the cancer had recurred. At that time, the NHS had not yet fully taken over Sara’s care, and since they trusted the German doctors, they decided to return to Germany so Sara could undergo a second surgery. This re-resection was more difficult, and Sara experienced a couple of unpleasant days of aphasia afterwards. Nevertheless, she recovered, and after some testing and uncertainty about the histology, it was deemed safe for her to return to the UK to begin chemotherapy treatments.

In Southampton, Sara underwent a full year of chemo. During this time, Sara and Guido found many happy moments to travel and be together with the families. For instance, they went skiing—Sara’s first time—which caused Guido much anxiety since Sara hit the slopes just two days after a round of chemo and showed no fear whatsoever, careening down with minimal training. Life continued, and checkups during chemotherapy were reasonably promising, with the remaining cancer appearing silent. Sara finished chemo in June 2024, returning to a watch-and-wait routine, hoping for a reprieve from the disease.

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The Road Ahead…

In November 2024, the latest MRI revealed substantial new growth, much to everyone’s disappointment. Since then, the medical teams in the UK and Germany have offered differing opinions. The challenge is to understand why and select the best course of action. We do not fault the doctors for disagreeing—Sara’s case is rare and complex, and there are almost no guidelines for handling such recurrences. At present, we are following the advice of the German team, primarily because they have more direct experience with Sara’s specific situation. She will have another surgery in January, and based on its outcome and subsequent testing, we will decide on further conventional therapies.

Beyond this, we have contacted several private centres that offer immunotherapy options, such as cancer vaccines. These options have a strong scientific basis but remain partly unproven due to the complexity of conducting clinical trials for this rare and intricate type of malignancy. Consequently, these treatments are not covered by statutory health insurance, and require significant out-of-pocket expenses.

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How You Can Help

We’ve created this GoFundMe campaign to ensure Sara can quickly pursue the best treatment options available. Your support will allow us to focus on what truly matters—fighting this cancer and cherishing our time with the friends and family who love and support Sara—without the added stress of mounting medical bills and treatment-related costs. If you can’t donate but still want to help, please consider sharing our campaign link on social media, via email, or through any other channel. It truly makes a difference.

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Where Your Donation Will Go

• Medical costs for both standard and experimental treatments not covered by insurance

• Housing and travel expenses during out-of-town treatment

We are determined to find the best possible care and options for Sara, and we are infinitely grateful for your help in achieving these goals. Your support empowers us to keep fighting, stay hopeful, and ensure Sara has every opportunity to manage her disease.

Thank you kindly, from Sara, Guido, and the rest of the Hawkins clan.