Support Katrina’s journey through Cancer

Thank you for visiting this page. My name is Annette Lynch and I am raising funds to support my dear sister, Katrina Vuori, with her cancer journey and recovery. My sister has the most unfortunate and rare distinction of being stricken with two types of cancer at the same time. A lump in the lymph gland neck was found to be clear cell carcinoma and related to the cancer of the salivary glands she had beaten 9 years earlier.

 

A PET Scan was then performed to explore the extent of the cancer, and also confirmed that a lump in the breast seen in an earlier mammogram was breast cancer – a completely different and unrelated form of cancer. With a biopsy, it was found to be HER 2, a particularly aggressive form of cancer. Fingers crossed they found it early due to the neck symptoms.

 

First step was to remove the tumor in the throat, and after healing was followed up by 6 weeks of radiation. A painful and distressing process that dried out the throat causing difficulties in swallowing, and severe coughing fits that provoked electric nerve pain in her limbs. One of these fits was so bad it broke a rib.

Once the radiation was complete, and several weeks allowed for recovery, the next treatment was chemo for the breast cancer. The preferred treatment regime is to reduce the breast cancer tumor first before any surgery. A raised temperature in week 3 already caused a few days in hospital. There is a lot to deal with. The chemo will end April 23 and then further treatment will be considered.

 

Fortunately, the health care system covers a lot of the medical bills and so the support I am seeking on Katrina’s behalf relates more to the financial hardship brought about by being unable to work since October 2021 (and unable to in the near foreseeable future.) There are also the pharmaceutical bills, the high price of gas/petrol for all the trips to hospital required, plus additional support for her holistic health needs.

 

We are giving 50% of any funds raised to the National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine, Southern Cross University, to support further research of naturopathy, nutrition and integrative and complementary medicine for the treatment of Cancer.

 

I am so blessed to be in the position to return to Australia to support my sister for the last half of treatment, to help administer this fund and give her as much assistance and love she needs to get through this.

 

Any support you can provide is greatly appreciated so Katrina, and her loving partner, Rudy, can focus on recovery.