At 48 years old, Katrina Lowe was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer — now her chances of survival aren't determined by the intensity of her condition or her will to live — it's about how long she can afford to keep paying for the treatment keeping her alive.
Katrina can recall the horror of discovering a small lump in her left breast during one of her regular self-examinations in April 2020.
The timing couldn't have been worse. Her eldest son was in hospital with severe pancreatitis and New Zealand was in lockdown.
"I wasn't in a position to deal with what I had discovered straight away; however, I did keep an eye on it until my son was out of hospital," she told 1News.
While a mammogram had been unable to detect the lump, an ultrasound picked it up before a biopsy confirmed in July that Katrina had triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) — one of the most aggressive forms of the disease.
The active mum-of-two couldn't have been more surprised. She had been living a full life with a love for outdoor activities and spending time with her two boys.
She struggles to forget the moment a doctor told her she had a low chance of survival, unless the lump was quickly removed with a treatment plan that included chemotherapy and radiation.
Katrina left the clinic "in a fog" and completely scared of her future but couldn't shake one overbearing thought — her children.
"The hardest thing that kept going through my mind was 'how am I going to tell my kids'. I just knew I hadn't finished being a mum yet. My stomach was churning and the thought of them being without a mum was hard to get my head around," she said.
Katrina, who was born in Auckland, had been living between Opua and Mangawhai to stay close to her kids.
While planning her treatment, a lumpectomy was considered at first but then it was decided she best start with chemotherapy and no surgery. Katrina said early on she asked for a mastectomy, but it was declined.
In the time afterwards, she was devastated to learn cancer had spread through her body.
After carrying a small lump over many months, she learned more had appeared — three times the size — with another benign mass found which hadn't previously been seen, prompting surgeons to perform a lumpectomy.
Her doctors eventually performed a mastectomy in January 2021.
But her health battle continued with several significant events throughout the start of 2022, including the discovery of another inoperable tumour at the base of her skull. This required immunotherapy at a cost of more than $100,000.
"Not to mention the other treatments that run alongside it," she said.
Breast Cancer Foundation NZ chief executive Ah-Leen Rayner told 1News although treatment for breast cancer is publicly funded in NZ, the exception is new drugs for high-risk early variations of the disease — especially TNBC.
She said: "We have major concerns about resource constraints delaying access to radiation therapy and sometimes surgery, plus many important drugs for advanced breast cancer not funded in New Zealand."
Katrina said doctors told her that even if she does find the cash to pay for immunotherapy, that it may not work, and if it does, it might only extend her life by a few months.
"They referred me to hospice, obviously in the mindset that I needed to start preparing for the worst," she said.
Feeling as though she had far more to give in her fight against cancer, she decided to look at what other options were available and found a treatment plan at a clinic overseas.
"I was far from ready to leave my kids, family, friends and my life. I was still camping, riding my mountain bikes and stand-up paddle boarding through all this," she said.
"I knew I was fit and strong and had a whole lot more left in me."
But her treatment now comes at a heavy price — forking out $12,000 a week in healthcare bills.
"I try not to think about how much it costs. I just have to get on with it when you're not really given any other option," she said.
A GiveALittle page set up by her brother has garnered interest from people she's never met, which Katrina said has been humbling.
"I know I was and am fortunate enough to have family, friends and strangers that helped financially where they could. I also had an apartment to sell, most people don't have this option.
"It's also not just donations, it's people pitching in to help me in other areas of my life, including offering to help organise or completing my tiny home ready for my return, free accommodation in the most beautiful healing spots… people being there for my kids and so much more."
She's now using the funds to save her life, after leasing some land in Kerikeri to put a low-cost tiny home, but the money is quickly running out.
Katrina returned to New Zealand almost tumour free, but two months later, the cancer returned with a vengeance, growing resistant to chemotherapy and other drugs she was on, forcing her to head back overseas in December 2022.
As of a few weeks ago, the prognosis was not looking good. The cancer had moved to both sides of her neck limiting her ability to eat and the use of her vocal cords, while movement in her left arm deteriorated, along with unrelenting pain in many areas.
But in the last week, her voice has returned, she can eat and a tumour under her arm has halved in size.
"I can't stop midway as I have turned a positive corner again," Katrina said.
She's feeling optimistic the health plan is working, feeling her energy slowing coming back.
Although fighting the disease has been hard, the mum-of-two is most worried about not being able to be there for her young adult sons Dylan, 30, and Kade, 21, having already missed Christmas and both their significant milestone birthdays.
"We are very close, and they are the reason I fight so hard," she said.
Katrina expects to be overseas receiving care for another two months but will need to continue lower-cost treatments when she comes home to either keep shrinking the tumours or keep on top of them.
"I'm not scared of death or of cancer, I'm more scared of not living, so I am doing absolutely everything to return to the completed and healthy person I once was so I can help others."
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