...and don't come back!

Sunday, 5 February 2012

Thank you Keith and Pam!

Thank you so much for your donations!

-Siobhan

Monday, 26 December 2011

Thank you Sharon Wood!

I haven't been on to check my mail in a couple days and just saw your donation, thank you very much! Xxx

THE BIGGEST THANK YOU EVER ..........

We would like to wish everyone who helped with donations and fund raising a very happy Christmas and a wonderful 2012. With your help we have probably given Theo an extra holiday, he will be packing his bags again in February but in the UK this time.

Thank you for giving me the greatest gift there is, more time with my family.

The biggest thanks has to go to Siobhan for setting up this blog and making her badges to raise funds, how wonderful she has been, I am so proud of her.

Thanks also to my twice married club girls who had an ugly dress night and raised funds, so many to mention. I think you know who you all are, I want you to know how much I and my family appreciate this x x

There can't be a bigger gift than that, we all appreciate how much you have done for us. Thank you so much to each and every one of you.

THANK YOU..........

★ Avis and Graham Strickland and Matthew★

★Mr and Mrs Jones★

★Hazel and family★

Sunday, 9 October 2011

THANK YOU ......

★ Mavis and Ray Nye ★

★ Christina Jane ★

★ Clare Holmes ★

★ Full house magazine ★

Tuesday, 6 September 2011

THANK YOU SO MUCH......

★ Julianne McRea ★

Monday, 5 September 2011

The 'TWICE MARRIED CLUBS' UGLY DRESS BALL 2011.

My friends have been very busy, they arranged an Ugly Dress Ball. We searched charity shops and ebay for hideous dresses, all in aid of Theo's holiday fund. I am so very lucky having such very special friends who care about me so much. Thank you so much to all of you.

★ Clare Holmes ★

★Jayne Chalmers ★

★ Avis Strickland ★

★ Christina Jane ★

★ Paula Reeves ★

★ Rachael Crook ★

★ Nicole Bawden ★

★Anita ★

And not forgetting Alfie Crook, Thank you so much all of you. I am so proud to have you all as my friends x

What is this?

And don't come back! is our little blog to keep track of how much money we've raised to pay for my mum, Debbie Brewer, to have treatment for her asbestos-related cancer. If you would like to know more about mesothelioma and our family's story so far, please have a poke around our website at mesothelioma-and-me.com.

What will your donations go towards?

First and foremost, the treatment itself.

Chemoembolization is a procedure where "anticancer drugs are administered directly into a tumor through its feeding blood supply" (wikipedia) and is used in the UK to treat liver cancer. Professor Vogl proposes to use this with the drug Pemetrexed, better known by the brand name Alimta, (which is also approved and used in the UK for the treatment of mesothelioma but is currently only administered by conventional chemotherapy which attacks the whole body rather than a localized area).

Then there's the flights to Germany which aren't cheap given the current financial climate and accommodation while she's there, money for taxis to get to the hospital, even normal stuff like food and drink... it all adds up.

Why can't you get this on the NHS/get PCT funding?

Basically, because it's a trial and the trial is being carried out in Frankfurt, Germany! And because Professor Vogl's use of chemoembolization to treat mesothelioma is still in research stages, we have been turned down for PCT funding despite evidence that this worked for my mum before.

So if it's a trial, how do you know it'll work?

We don't want to ask money from kind people and then throw it away on "sharks" who promise amazing things but cannot deliver. The reason we believe that this is our best chance is because my mum had the same treatment under the prof in 2008 but with a different drug. CT scans in the months afterward showed a dramatic (83%) shrinkage in the tumor - and the best evidence of all that it worked is that, three years on, she's still here when in 2006 we were told she may only have 6-9 months to live! In addition, mum's oncologist here in the UK, Dr Daniel, is fully supportive and was in fact the one who came up with the idea during the appointment.

Those previous treatments were paid for out of my mum's own pocket. Unfortunately now our pockets are pretty empty so our family (that's my mum, me and my two younger brothers) has to find around £4000 to pay for it ourselves - no easy task. Anything you can donate, anything you can do to help - however small, would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for reading this!
Siobhan