Emily Cheng

My mum Theresa was diagnosed just before her 63rd birthday, and she first started chemo to treat her Myeloma when my first born was just 3 days old.

Over the last 10 years, she has had a stem cell transplant, a relapse, and subsequently went onto her 2nd and 3rd line of treatment. She has managed to make it through all these years because of the funded drugs that were available to us.

Unfortunately we’re at a point where her current treatment is losing its effects in managing her cancer. Our next conversation with her haematologist will be about where we go from here, but we know we have run out of options now as nothing else is funded in New Zealand.

Looking at what’s available overseas, it saddens me to learn just how many other funded treatment options would be offered (for instance there are five more funded Myeloma treatments available across the ditch).

It is beyond frustrating and extremely disappointing to have nine long years go by without any new drug options for the second most common blood cancer in New Zealand. We desperately need increased funding from the government and for Pharmac to fund Daratumumab before it’s too late, not only so my mum can be here to see her five grandchildren grow up, but for the thousands of kiwis who are also affected by Myeloma – their lives shouldn’t be limited as a result.