Kimberley Brook launches GoFundMe in wake of terminal cancer diagnosis two days into new job
With eight weeks to go until she can draw her super, an NT resident is asking for a little bit of assistance in the wake of a terminal cancer diagnosis – but not all the money will go to her, she says.
Northern Territory
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Emergency treatment in hospital for an out-of-the-blue terminal cancer diagnosis has left one Alice Springs resident asking for the communities help until she can access her superannuation and support herself again.
Kimberley Brook, 54, has launched a GoFundMe in a bid to help pay her bills after she had to leave her new job two days in to get treatment for oesophageal adenocarcinoma.
“When I finally got into a doctor’s appointment, it had been six weeks since I’d eaten anything, ”she said.
“I thought it was an ulcer.”
Unfortunately, a CT scan discovered a cancerous growth in her stomach, which doctors later informed her was terminal, she said.
“The cancer has spread and it’s gone through my liver and if I respond to treatment then I may have up to four years,” she said.
A mother herself, Ms Brook was staying positive to see daughter have grandkids.
The Cancer Council said oesophageal cancer is not a common cancer, and estimate about 1,700 Australians were diagnosed with it in 2023.
Surgery isn’t an option, so Ms Brook is now staying hopeful she’ll respond well to treatment and possibly even get back to work in Alice Springs in a few weeks.
She was transferred down to Royal Adelaide Hospital from Alice Springs in January.
However, while down south she ran into another snag: how to pay her rent and other bills while she was gone.
“I have no leave, I have no holiday pay. I’d taken all my holidays over Christmas, New Year period with my old job and used all my leave up there,” she said.
“So financially I’m struggling until my superannuation releases and they said I’ve got eight weeks, so I’ve got about seven weeks left of that to wait.
“I feel horrible asking for help and it’s not like me – normally I’m the one giving it to others and I find it difficult to receive help.”
Ms Brook said all the money raised in the GoFundMe will go towards covering rent and other bills.
She said she is seeking around $10,000, but any she doesn’t use will be donated to the Royal Adelaide Hospital cancer department, she said.
In the meantime, she said she starts radiation treatment on Monday, and was hopefully she might be able to enjoy a proper Vietnamese pho if all goes well.
“I won’t put too much sriracha in it, but I’m really looking forward to that,” she said.
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Originally published as Kimberley Brook launches GoFundMe in wake of terminal cancer diagnosis two days into new job
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