14 Feb Essex woman with secondary breast cancer needs your help!
An Essex woman with secondary breast cancer is begging for the community’s help to potentially save her life; and countless others.
56-year-old Debbie Bolaky from Colchester in Essex has the opportunity to receive a trial treatment in the USA, called Chimeric Antigen Receptor, (CAR T). The therapy is a completely new type of treatment that uses the immune system to kill cancer cells. It is designed for people with advanced progressing blood cancers who have limited treatment options. It is now being tested on solid tumours.
Until recently the use of CAR T has been restricted to small clinical trials, but the programme is being expanded due to remarkable results from those taking part; some of which had stopped responding to all other treatments.
“I am one of the very few people in the world to be offered a trial for Cart T Cell therapy in the USA. There is nothing else like this anywhere in the UK. Although this type of therapy is available for blood cancer here on the NHS it is not available for breast cancer. This cutting-edge technology is personalised to my specific breast cancer in the brain; without this treatment my options are very limited. To put this very plainly: I want to live. If this treatment is successful it could not only save my life but could potentially open doors to others who have my disease and could save countless lives”.
Debbie was first diagnosed with aggressive HER2 breast cancer in 2014. After chemotherapy treatment and a mastectomy the family believed she was in remission.
When Debbie was rushed to hospital in 2016, with what was initially thought to be a series of strokes, tests showed that the cancer had spread to her brain.
Debbie and her family are pleading with local people and businesses to help fund this trial in the USA and help pioneer this treatment for others. Husband, Jay, and 29-year-old daughter, Jess, have organised countless fundraising events, such as black-tie dinners and sky-dives, in a bid to raise money to keep Debbie alive. They are now turning to their community for vital support in raising the estimated £180,000 needed.
“Living with cancer is intense. As a family we spend every waking hour thinking about it and how we can fight it. It feels like we’re all struggling to survive in a world dominated by cancer. This new treatment has given us some much needed hope “.
You can donate to Debbie here: https://uk.gofundme.com/debbies-fight-against-cancer
