Locals support cancer patient

Published date04 November 2021
Publication titleMountain Scene
Former Queenstowner Sheree Seymour’s life changed completely this September when she found out she had breast cancer in her breast, lymph nodes, and chest.

‘‘When I first heard I had cancer ... I was probably in a little bit of shock,’’ the 34-year-old mum says.

Almost 10 years to the day of Seymour’s diagnosis, her mother had been diagnosed.

Initially, the long-time Queenstowner was told the treatment she says would give her the best chance at life, pertuzumab, couldn’t be publicly-funded.

Immediately, her Whakatipu friends and family rallied, launching a Givealittle page to fund the 17 cycles of the treatment, costing $120,000.

Seymour was offered alternative funded treatments paclitaxel and trastuzumab, but after further MRI and CT scans revealed the cancer had spread to her bones and was incurable, she was declared terminally ill.

At that point, she was told the treatment could now be funded.

‘‘I definitely don’t understand why it’s only funded when it’s terminal, like, it should be funded no matter what, I think,’’ Seymour says.

Seymour began chemotherapy early last week.

Once she’s through it, she says the doctors will regroup and see what they can do next to ‘‘maintain it’’.

‘‘I don’t feel any different, I think I’m quite lucky,’’ she says.

‘‘Maybe the next round it might hit me.’’

After relocating to Auckland about two years ago, she’s aiming to return to Queenstown this month to spend her last days with her 15-year-old...

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