Brisbane woman in $60k last-ditch bid to beat cancer
A Brisbane receptionist who lost an eye to melanoma has launched a last-ditch bid to fight off the disease. She talks about how a “freckle’’ turned her life upside down.
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A Brisbane receptionist who lost an eye to melanoma has launched a last-ditch bid to fight off the disease.
Tracey Sloss, 55, has opened up about the trauma of losing an eye two years ago after noticing a “freckle’’ behind her right pupil which had started to blur her vision.
The cancer had now spread to three parts of her body, including lesions on her liver, arm and thigh.
“I’ve been told there is no cure for me,” she said.
“I broke down. It’s awful having a death sentence hanging over me.
“I’m petrified if I didn’t go help soon I don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s not time for me to go.”
But Ms Sloss said she was pinning her hopes on the public’s generosity to help her fund potentially lifesaving treatment overseas.
In the meantime, she was focused on spending more time to spend with family in Murrarie and on the Gold Coast, hoped to continue working as a receptionist at a local police station, training at the gym and sharing precious moments with her husband, whom she described as “her rock’’.
Doctors put her on a clinical trial with a 50 per cent success rate but she accepted it was a “Bandaid’’.
“I don’t have the right blood type to do the proper treatment,’’ Ms Sloss said.
“I refuse to accept my 2015 diagnosis. Surely there are things out there that can help me?
“I’m asymptomatic, which makes it hard to believe.”
She has decided to try treatment in Mexico and Thailand but needed about $60,000 to pay for costs.
Friend Sebastian Waldon set up a gofundme to help which so far has raised $8500.
“Overseas travel and hotel for three to four weeks is costly, which is on top of the treatment itself,’’ Ms Sloss said.
“The amount of time could be longer pending on how the treatment reacts.”
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