Concert organiser wants to pack them in for Gina

‘PLAY FOR GINA’ concert organiser Cathy McBride (right) wants to see Te Awamutu War Memorial Park behind her full on Sunday afternoon to help raise money for vital cancer treatment for her good friend Gina Bisset (left). 082061AD

By Dean Taylor

Friends, family and strangers have all rallied behind Gina Bisset to help her pay for vital cancer treatment.

Mrs Bisset featured in the Courier a month ago because she had made a commitment to pay for her own treatment with the new drug Herceptin.

Lately public pressure to make Herceptin more widely available in New Zealand has been stepped up, but in reality Mrs Bisset says that will never happen in time to pay for her treatment.

She is keen to keep supporting the drive to have Herceptin introduced, the drug being hailed overseas as the biggest breakthrough in cancer treatment for years.

The 44-year-old Plunket nurse and solo mother of four found out a year ago she had breast cancer, one of 30% of sufferers with the aggressive HER2 positive forms. Despite chemotherapy, followed by surgery, more chemotherapy then radiation therapy, Mrs Bisset was told there was a 70% chance she would die within three years.

Herceptin gives her a 65% chance of living, something she says she owes her family. So she plans to raise money and sell her house to fund three weekly treatment through Palmerston North’s private Aorangi Hospital at a cost of $105,000. Mrs Bisset is already well into the course of treatment.

PLAY FOR GINA

Since then Mrs Bisset’s good friend Cathy McBride has rallied the forces to put together this Sunday afternoon’s ‘Play For Gina’ fundraising concert at Te Awamutu War Memorial Park. A dozen local acts have volunteered to play, plus there will be food and drink for sale.

David Botting is donating his time and expertise to run a PA system and sound gear loaned by his friend Fret Hoet and his employer, The Rock Shop. Stage is provided by Couplands Transport and MC is Jason Fitzgerald.

Mrs McBride says lots of other businesses, service clubs and individuals have also contributed to Sunday’s concert or the fundraising in general, which has been most heartening.

The concert starts and 12.30pm this Sunday and music will run continuously until 5pm. Line up of acts are Eqwanox, Shenaniganz, Pulse, Red Alert, Mainly Music Kids, Cassia Donovan, Sue O’Brien, Pirongia Country Music, Peter Talbot, Ross Ward, Rosetown Singers and Romelli. Charge for the show is $15 for adults, $10 for students and children under 13 free.

Organisers would appreciate people entering the concert from Mutu Street to assist with security.

Concert goers are welcome to bring blankets, chairs and picnics to the event.

Herceptin campaign fires up

‘Herceptin heroes’ went to Parliament last week to support a petition asking that the breast cancer drug be publicly funded for patients in the early stages of the disease. Among them was Nicola Russell, 32, an Irishwoman who came to New Zealand nine years ago. Her three-year-old daughter died of an aggressive bone cancer last year, the same year Ms Russell was diagnosed with HER2 positive breast cancer.

Her oncologist advised her to start treatment with Herceptin if she could afford it so she could see her son grow up’.

Aletia Hudson, 33, was also fund-raising for Herceptin and needed to pay $25,000 for chemotherapy. In tears, Ms Hudson said her oncologist had told her Herceptin would be good for her.

“I feel unsupported by the Government at the moment, by the Labour Government I voted for and I won’t be voting for next time. They’ve let me down in a lot of areas since I found out I’ve been unwell.’’

Government funding for the drug Herceptin is available to treat patients in the advanced stages of breast cancer. But Breast Cancer Advocacy Coalition (BCAC) Libby Burgess said Herceptin was not yet funded in New Zealand for those who have early breast cancer.

“Patients could only get Herceptin if they could raise between $80,000 and $190,000 a year to pay for the drug,” she said.
“Women had sold or were mortgaging their homes or organising huge fund-raising activities in their communities to pay for the drug,” she said.

The petition was started eight weeks ago by breast cancer sufferer Anne Hayden, who delivered a box of more than 18,000 signatures to National MP Jackie Blue, a former breast physician.

Ms Hayden and her husband were borrowing $127,000 to pay for one year’s treatment with the drug. She had started the petition after hearing of Ms Russell’s struggle to raise funds to get breast cancer treatment.