Zest for life helps Marie to smash fundraising target for cancer treatment
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A Newmachar woman has been left speechless by the response to an appeal to raise money for potentially lifesaving cancer treatment.
With the encouragement of her family 39 year old Marie Dobson set up a crowdfunding page in the hopes of raising some money towards a 'last hope' treatment in her fight against secondary breast cancer.
In 2016 Marie was diagnosed with breast cancer, and as a keen athlete the diagnosis came as a shock.
After undergoing a year of gruelling treatment - including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a double mastectomy - Marie was able start rebuilding her life (and her body) free from cancer.
As the bells rang in 2019 Marie felt she was ready to try for a family using her own eggs which had been frozen prior to undergoing treatment, however she sustained a small injury while waiting to undergo checks to make sure her body was ready which she found worsened rather than healed.
On June 5 2019 she was called into ARI to be told that her cancer had returned and spread to her bones.
Despite determinedly pushing on with treatment Marie was knocked back with unsuccessful treatment after unsuccessful treatment, and in September 2020 she was given just one year to live.
Most recently Marie learned that her body has been weakened by the cancer - which has spread to her bones, bone marrow and liver - too much to undergo further chemotherapy.
This was when her family started looking into Dendrix cell treatment.
This treatment is not available on the NHS and would cost Marie around £35,000.
With the help of a fundraising running event at the weekend she has now raised over £43,000.
She said: "The day I was told that I had to stop the chemo could have been the worst day of my life, but I already had hope - hope is so important.
"I'm totally blown away by the love I'm receiving from all of these people, a lot of them are strangers but they're still showing me so much love and kindness, there are so many messages of hope.
"It's like all my Christmasses have come at once!
"It really is unbelievable.
"Not everybody realises that cancer is a constant battle, but it really is.
"You start a treatment, you think it's working then you find out it's not working so you just move onto the next treatment."
Following her diagnosis Marie knew that she wanted her legacy to be that she made a difference in the world, and she is touched by the response which shows that she is already doing this.
Speaking about her annual fundraising event Run4Marie, Marie said: "It's brilliant.
"I wanted it to be something special, a celebration, and that's exactly what it is and we have so many people joining in."
The family are now carrying out thorough research into the Dendrix treatment to find the best option for Marie, in the hopes that she will be able to travel to Spain to start the treatment as soon as possible.
You can donate towards Marie's treatment here: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/run4marie
