Lucy's cancer treatment
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Like most of the people searching for funding on GoFundMe, I never thought something horrible like cancer could happen to my family. On the 26th of October 2017 my mother, who is 47 years old, found out that she has vulval cancer. According to Cancer Research UK, around 1,300 cases are diagnosed in the UK each year. Vulval cancer accounts for less than 1 in every 100 cancers diagnosed in women.
Before the diagnosis of the cancer, my mum was constantly complaining about the pain in her sex organs and legs. Doctors said at most it was only skin irritation as she seemed fine and blood tests did not show any signs of cancer. Only after taking a biopsy, doctors could determine that it was one of the rare forms of vulval cancer. Straight after that, my mum was told that she will need surgery to remove a tumour on the 8th of December. She postponed the surgery until the 9th of January because as she told me, she wanted to spend “maybe the last Christmas together with my sister and I ” as the surgery was complex and potentially fatal.
When the surgery finally took place, it was the worst time of my life. After the surgery, I spent three weeks in the hospital with my mum. I saw her on death's door, I saw her fighting for her life and I saw her crying from happiness when three weeks after the surgery she was able to stand on her feet for the first time. Doctors diagnosed her with the second stage of vulval cancer and have determined that she will need an experimental treatment of both chemotherapy and radiotherapy. However, her body did not accept the chemotherapy as her heart would start failing after the first treatment. Radiotherapy was the last option, but was also unsuccessful.
Today my mum has a new tumour in her vulval area with cancer spreading to her pelvis with what doctors have identified as rapidly progressing to the third stage of cancer (Ca vulvae IIIB(i)). Doctors have said that the only hope for my mum is to receive an invasive laser therapy which uses interstitial optical fibres to bring even more laser light into low-lying tissue layers. This is conducted in Weber Medical GmbH Sohnreystraße 4 D - 37697 Lauenförde Hospital in Germany. The problem is that the treatment is needed within two months, or cancer will spread to her whole body which is untreatable. This means my mum would die in several months as the cancer is spreading very quickly. She has lost 56 pounds in six months and her health is getting worse. The treatment costs around £20,000 without additional costs for post-treatment medication, which we are unable to afford.
I am begging for your help as my mum and my sister, who is only 12 and still attending school, are the only family I have left. I am a 22-year old student who is working as much as I can to support my mum. I came to England when I was 18 to begin a new life and to study at one of the best universities in this country. Not only did I leave my family and all my friends to get a higher education, but during the past four years I worked full time alongside my studies to support my family and I. It would be impossible for me to save enough for my mum’s treatment in such a short amount of time and as my grandparents passed when I was 10 and my father left our family when my sister was born I am the sole earner. My mum cannot work anymore because every step she takes is so painful that she has to take injections and very strong painkillers every day. I am asking for your help to save my family, to save the only parent my little sister and I have, to give us hope and to give my mum the opportunity of life that she would otherwise not have.
Please help with anything you can – every penny can save my mum‘s life.
Before the diagnosis of the cancer, my mum was constantly complaining about the pain in her sex organs and legs. Doctors said at most it was only skin irritation as she seemed fine and blood tests did not show any signs of cancer. Only after taking a biopsy, doctors could determine that it was one of the rare forms of vulval cancer. Straight after that, my mum was told that she will need surgery to remove a tumour on the 8th of December. She postponed the surgery until the 9th of January because as she told me, she wanted to spend “maybe the last Christmas together with my sister and I ” as the surgery was complex and potentially fatal.
When the surgery finally took place, it was the worst time of my life. After the surgery, I spent three weeks in the hospital with my mum. I saw her on death's door, I saw her fighting for her life and I saw her crying from happiness when three weeks after the surgery she was able to stand on her feet for the first time. Doctors diagnosed her with the second stage of vulval cancer and have determined that she will need an experimental treatment of both chemotherapy and radiotherapy. However, her body did not accept the chemotherapy as her heart would start failing after the first treatment. Radiotherapy was the last option, but was also unsuccessful.
Today my mum has a new tumour in her vulval area with cancer spreading to her pelvis with what doctors have identified as rapidly progressing to the third stage of cancer (Ca vulvae IIIB(i)). Doctors have said that the only hope for my mum is to receive an invasive laser therapy which uses interstitial optical fibres to bring even more laser light into low-lying tissue layers. This is conducted in Weber Medical GmbH Sohnreystraße 4 D - 37697 Lauenförde Hospital in Germany. The problem is that the treatment is needed within two months, or cancer will spread to her whole body which is untreatable. This means my mum would die in several months as the cancer is spreading very quickly. She has lost 56 pounds in six months and her health is getting worse. The treatment costs around £20,000 without additional costs for post-treatment medication, which we are unable to afford.
I am begging for your help as my mum and my sister, who is only 12 and still attending school, are the only family I have left. I am a 22-year old student who is working as much as I can to support my mum. I came to England when I was 18 to begin a new life and to study at one of the best universities in this country. Not only did I leave my family and all my friends to get a higher education, but during the past four years I worked full time alongside my studies to support my family and I. It would be impossible for me to save enough for my mum’s treatment in such a short amount of time and as my grandparents passed when I was 10 and my father left our family when my sister was born I am the sole earner. My mum cannot work anymore because every step she takes is so painful that she has to take injections and very strong painkillers every day. I am asking for your help to save my family, to save the only parent my little sister and I have, to give us hope and to give my mum the opportunity of life that she would otherwise not have.
Please help with anything you can – every penny can save my mum‘s life.
Organizer
Joanna Slavinskaitė
Organizer