Help Save Arthur

We need all the help we can get to save our friend.

For those of you who have had the pleasure of meeting Arthur (Poenie), you will know what I am about to say is true.

Arthur is a lover of life and people. He lives every day to its fullest and loves being around friends and family.

If someone else needs help, whether it’s moving homes or painting your walls. He will happily volunteer his time to help. For those that he loves, he would give the shirt off his back if you needed it and never ask for anything in return.

It breaks our hearts that it has come to this point in his journey to beat cancer, but here we are, and we need your help.

Perhaps we'd better start from the beginning ...

Here is his journey thus far….

2019 :

What a GREAT year. Many of our friends were getting married, myself included.

I eventually got married to my long time sweetheart, Liezl. Together for 13 years at that stage and tied the knot on 24 August 2019 and had a lovely honeymoon in the Garden Route.

2020:

CORONA VIRUS hits, LOCKDOWN, NO WORK. June 2022, I start to feel unwell. Symptoms included intense stomach cramps, loss of appetite and losing a lot of weight in the process. Thinking it was a stomach ulcer, I started on medication for treatment, but the symptoms didn't improve. After 2 months, I bit the bullet and went to a Specialist at Panorama Hospital for a colonoscopy and gastroscopy (R7000 later). When I wake up, the doctor is beside my bed to talk about what he had found. The next words are the ones I have dreaded..."Sorry Mr. Tanner you have STAGE 4 COLON CANCER” at 36 years old. Fear and uncertainty start to set in. My wife, Liezl and I had a good cry together when we got home.

Two days after the news was given, I was booked into Tygerberg Hospital as I did not have medical aid for private hospital. I was waiting on surgery, but due to an infection in the gut, we had to wait for it to be cleared first before the surgeon could proceed. Two weeks later, the infection cleared and I am ready for surgery and according to the doctor's it was a success. During surgery they removed 2/3 of my colon. One week later, I am back home recovering. I thanked the Lord for getting me thus far, BUT I know the battle has not yet been won… CHEMO awaits.

2021:

It's January, and I am ready to start my chemotherapy. They put on a cycle of 8 sessions, one every three weeks. I remained strong and positive, and got through the 8 sessions. The Doctors are happy and say the chemo "did its job". My wife and I are extremely happy and celebrate. This has been a rollercoaster of emotions.

2022:

January: While going for my routine check ups, my wife gets a call from the doctor to say my "blood count" went up, and I need to go back and see the doctor. The tumor is growing AGAIN, which is around the spleen. The cancer is in my stomach, lungs and a new one has popped up on my neck, but those are not growing, so they are not too concerned with that, but the one around my spleen is starting to push up against my kidneys, hence I have been experiencing constant lower back pain.

So... HERE WE GO AGAIN. So back at Tygerberg Hospital, where they decide on a different chemo, but after 3 sessions, they stop and say it's not working.

They decided to put me back on the "OLD" chemo I had the previous year, but again, no luck, after 2 sessions they sat us down and said "We are sorry, the chemo available is not working and they can't offer me anything else." THIS was a hard pill (pun intended) to swallow, for myself, my wife and my family......WHAT NOW ?????

We decided to get a second opinion from the private sector (Mediclinic) to see if there is anything else available. GREAT news, there are options, BAD news, it's extremely expensive as I have no medical aid as previously mentioned.

I am young, I am strong, I have an extremely supportive family and friends and I want to FIGHT, but I need YOUR help with funds to fight this.

Currently the starting cost of the chemotherapy provided is R13 000.00 per cycle every 3 weeks, of which I will need at least 8 to start with. There is a genetic test that we want to have done (costing up to R22 000) to see if there is a marker for another form of chemotherapy (R25 000 per cycle, every 2 weeks for LIFE), the last option, if or when we get there, will be around R36 000 every 2 weeks for the rest of my life.

I am not used to asking for things, favours or money, but I can't do this alone and I need HELP.