Help save Lorraine Hartley

Hi,

 

My name is David Topping and I am starting this fundraiser to help save my partners life. Lorraine is a young lady in her late thirties and mother of our two young boys Arthur and Henry. Lorraine has been fighting cancer for the last 18 months with a new born and three year old in tow. I have had to give up work twice now to raise my boys and care for Lorraine full time.

 

This is our little family enjoying a sunny day at home earlier this year.

 

 

Lorraine was diagnosed with stage 4 - 5 lung cancer with bone metastases in March 2020. After persistent pain from a back injury she had 5 months earlier she was finally given a CT scan to check things out. This showed evidence of cancerous legions present in the lungs, spinal cord, ribs and lymph nodes. This was the day our lives got turned upside down.

 

Lorraine was 26 weeks pregnant at this time and also suffering with her breathing. She was confirmed positive for COVID-19 during this admission to hospital and spent another week getting over a mild but complicated case of the pandemic causing disease. After a care plan was put in place we opted for an elective C-section at 30 weeks for the delivery of our now healthy second son Henry. He spent 10 weeks in intensive care and high dependency wards on and off assisted breathing for under developed lungs but pulled through. Henry has been living at home since and is growing into a lovely bouncy little toddler.

 

Lorraine put the effort in every day for 10 weeks to come into hospital to sit with Henry for as long as she could.

 

At the end of 10 weeks Henry finally came home to meet his big brother on the changing table!

 

A biopsy was done on Lorraines spinal cord legions that showed a targetable mutation she could be treated for. This was good news as these targeted drug therapies are a much more effective way of treating cancer. Despite this, she was still only given 2 years to live. Two weeks after the C-section she started taking Afatinib to fight the cancer and Denosunab to help grow back the lost bone matter from her spine.

 

Lorraine continued on the treatment plan for the next 18 months with good results considering the advanced stage of the cancer at first diagnosis. The legions in the bones and lungs all but reduced to scar tissue and her bones fused into position leaving some new stability. We where becoming hopeful of beating it.

 

In June of 2021 Lorraine started getting some new symptoms of numbness in the right hand. This was investigated and was concluded to be a symptom from the damaged vertebrae in Lorraines back. The numbness continued to spread up her right arm to the shoulder. In August this was then accompanied by numbness to the right hand side of her face. Once this happened a brain scan was ordered which showed 8 tumours around the brain and in the lining of the brain. This was then confirmed as the cause of the numbness she was experiencing.

 

A brain biopsy was performed on the 1st of October 2021 that has showed the cancer in the brain is the same as the original cancer in the lungs. The targeted drug therapy that was very effective in the body unfortunately does not pass into the brain very effectively and is unable to treat the tumours present there.

 

 

 

 

A newer drug called Osimertinib treats Lorraines mutation in the same way as Afatinib as well as other variants of her mutation. Osimertinib is also known for good transmission to the brain. This drug, however available on the NHS is only prescriptible if you have one of the additional variants of her mutation. Despite it being the ideal drug for her to move on to as it will treat her type of cancer and pass into the brain. Lorraines oncologist would like to move her onto the drug  but can't prescribe it because of this technicality.

 

Funding pleas to the board on the NHS have been made but we are told they are very unlikely to be approved. Also, a plea for compassionate supply from the manufacturer has not yet been approved. We await replies from them in hope. This drug is very expensive to buy, approximately £5770 per monthly cycle (30 pills). Our fundraiser is aiming to cover a years supply for Lorraine. Lorraine needs to start this drug as soon as possible as she is at risk of seizure and stroke and her physical and neurological symptoms slowly get worse every day.

 

Although it might not save her life indefinitely it will be the best way for her to have a lot more time with her family she loves so much. She wants to see Arthur start school and grow into a young boy and see Henry hit some more milestones as he grows up. She desperately wants to be able to walk again as the cancer has now taken sensation from her right leg also. This drug can help achieve all that.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read our appeal for this fundraiser. We hope it gives us some light at the end of the tunnel.

David and Lorraine