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An Auckland family has turned to Givealittle to help their daughter’s fight with cancer.
Eighteen-year-old MeCayla Janson was diagnosed last June with CIC-rearranged sarcoma, a rare and extremely aggressive cancer, which usually affects young adults and attacks the body’s soft tissues.
She started chemotherapy shortly afterwards, but by then, doctors had discovered it had spread to her lungs and a lymph node.
Besides chemotherapy, MeCayla has had surgery to remove an entire vastus intermedius muscle that had a tumour on it, and an incision was made in her abdomen to check on what looked like suspicious-looking lymph nodes. Fortunately, the nodes were given the all clear.
By this time, she had gone through seven cycles of chemotherapy and underwent another seven after her surgeries. On February 13, she stopped chemotherapy, and now the family is waiting to see when she can start her radiation sessions.
Like many families struggling with this diagnosis, sacrifices have been made. MeCayla’s mother, Petro Jansen, quit her job as a mental health worker in Pokeno, so she could care for her daughter.
The family have launched a Givealittle page to help cover the costs of MeCayla’s treatments. These include associated medical costs, travel costs, and living expenses. Some of the funds will go to MeCayla to help her remain comfortable and focused while she recovers from her cancer treatments.
“Some weeks we had to go into Auckland twice for blood transfusions or anything to do with her treatment, because her haemoglobin tended to drop due to the chemotherapy.
“So she had to get seven blood transfusions for the duration of the chemotherapy,” said Jansen.
While MeCayla’s diagnosis has forced her to miss school and to stop hanging out with her friends Jade and Astha, she still has dreams about going to university and studying either criminal law or criminology. She is still spontaneous and, as her mother says, “she’s our ray of sunlight.”
Currently, the family has received her latest PET and CT scans showing no visible signs of cancer.
“MeCayla still needs radiation therapy on her lungs due to previous metastasis and will need regular surveillance scans every three months for the next two years, then every six months until 2031,” says Jansen.
As of March 4, the Givealittle page has raised $1,790.
If you would like free, confidential information about cancer, contact 0800 226 237 (0800 CANCER), available Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm.
