Community rallies around Irish father as he fights to save wife after misdiagnosis

"Almost 99% of bowel cancer cases can be successfully treated if caught in time. Unfortunately, this was not the case for Chanelle"

A Dublin-born father who is living in Australia has been running campaigns and sponsored events in a bid to afford his wife’s cancer treatment after a year of ‘continuous misdiagnoses’. Chanelle's story went viral last year when her tragic circumstances were revealed following a long delay in getting the answers she needed. She sought medical advice numerous times over a period of a year, and was sent away each time with the wrong diagnosis. This led to a long delay in doctors finally discovering she had stage 4 bowel cancer. A spokesperson for the family told Her.ie: “The real tragedy in this is that it's thought that almost 99% of bowel cancer cases can be successfully treated if caught in time. Unfortunately, this was not the case for Chanelle.” Since the diagnosis, “Graham has been a pillar of strength, fighting fiercely to save his wife's life running campaigns and sponsored events to try to see Chanelle receive the essential treatment that's needed. “Unlike breast cancer, which receives a huge amount of research and funding, bowel cancer lags greatly behind.” Earlier this month, Chanelle had a lapse in her treatment and the cancer spread to her brain, which has ignited a sense of urgency among family and medics to find a solution. They plan to return to Thailand as soon as possible for essential treatment, but they face huge medical bills of over €7,000 per week. Thanks to the existing GoFundMe page, people across the globe have been donating money to the tune of over €31,000 so far - to help with increasing medical bills. Chanelle has already been through two clinical trials, six operations and countless rounds of chemotherapy and is now preparing for targeted radiation treatment in Perth next week. The GoFundMe campaign explains: “After multiple misdiagnosis, Chanelle, 35 year old wife and mother of two beautiful kids has been fighting stage 4 bowel cancer for nearly three years. “Her courage, will to succeed and determination to be around to raise her kids has brought her through 2 x clinical trials, 6 x operations and countless rounds of chemotherapy. “She had made great progress last year thanks to nearly 3 months of integrative therapy in Thailand and this treatment holds Chanelle’s best hope of finally finding a cure. “Since coming home in January she had some planned surgeries and progress has stalled. Last week we got the shocking news the cancer has spread to the brain. “Chanelle will undergo targeted radiation next week in Perth and thanks to your ongoing support, head back to Thailand again with hopes of getting this terrible disease back under control. “Each week of therapy costs $12,000 (AUD) and your ongoing generous support and contributions is going directly towards keeping Chanelle hopeful of one day seeing her kids grow old. “Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.” If you would like to donate to this GoFundMe page, you can do so by clicking here.

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