Terminally-ill mum begins new drug treatment paid for by crowdfunding
A TERMINALLY-ill mum has undergone her first round of treatment with a life-prolonging drug after a crowdfunding appeal raised tens of thousands of pounds.
Bangor woman Melanie Kennedy (40) has been battling breast cancer for four years.
Mother to Josh (16) and fiveyear-old AJ, she was given the devastating news that her former treatment was not working, and so her battle with the so-called NHS postcode lottery for treatment continued.
In what could be her last attempt and hope at spending more time with her sons, she launched a campaign to raise money to access the drug Kadcyla.
While it is available on the NHS in Scotland, it is only offered privately here at a cost of around £20,000.
Kadcyla is a medication that could potentially slow down the progress of the disease and of- fer Melanie a longer life. Within days of launching the appeal the emotional mum revealed how more than £22,000 had been raised by the “generous and kind-hearted people” of Northern Ireland.
Now, almost three weeks later, she has been able to embark on the treatment.
After completing the first round, Melanie posted a picture of herself smiling from her hospital bed and thanked all her Facebook followers for their support.
“All done, thank you all for your messages of support.
“I might not get round to replying to them all personally so here is a big (love) and to all the lovely staff at the hospital who as ever made the experience as good as possible.”
The day before her treatment, she posted to her Facebook page: “First dose of Kadcyla all paid for and sitting waiting in pharmacy for tomorrow.
“I assume at over £4k a pop it arrives on a little throne and is delivered by angels (well it kind of is — you guys).
“I fast before chemotherapy by choice — there is a lot of research that shows this makes chemo more effective and reduces side effects, and even though it’s bank holiday weekend I’ve stuck to it — bring on tomorrow.”
She previously criticised the political impasse at Stormont for preventing any progress on improving access to specialist drugs in Northern Ireland, and hit out at what she called the two-tier system for cancer patients
“We were speaking with the Department of Health and involved in a consultation to change the way drugs are accessed,” she said. “We were being heard. “But none of this can happen when we have no government,” she added.