Appeal to support fundraising campaign for cancer hit bride a year after she tied knot at Colne's Alma Inn
Family and friends of a courageous mum of three, who is battling cancer, are pulling out all the stops in a mammoth fund raising campaign to help pay for treatment.
In March last year Kirsty Brunt and her husband Joe won their dream wedding at Colne venue The Alma Inn. Competition organisers chose the couple as the most deserving recipients for the £10,000 prize package after learning that Kirsty (42) had been living with secondary breast cancer for a year.
Kirsty was first diagnosed in June, 2023 when she was 25 weeks pregnant with her third child, Phoenix, who is now almost three.
Brave Kirsty went through chemotherapy while carrying Phoenix, who was delivered safely at 36 weeks. Kirsty kept going through surgery and treatment with what her family describe as ‘incredible strength and a sense of humour and personality that lights up every room.’
But the cancer has now spread and Kirsty is living with secondary breast cancer that has spread to her bones. She also has a new tumour in her supraclavicular lymph node. Her cancer has also mutated—changing to HER2-positive, a more aggressive form that requires new treatment. HER2-positive cancer also carries a higher risk of spreading to the brain—where treatment becomes even more complex.
Kirsty has recently started her third type of chemotherapy and unfortunately has suffered some awful side effects and been unable to tolerate this physically whilst looking after her three children, Phoenix, Stanley (seven) and five-year-old Stevie.
Current avenues for treatment options are personalised cancer immunotherapy (vaccines), precision oncology and advanced diagnostics.
Kirsty’s disease means she has had to take medical retirement as a social worker as she is physically unable to work and the couple are selling their home to help pay for future treatments not available on the NHS.
So far the fund raising campaign stands at £35,000 towards the £50,000 plus goal set. But there is still a long way to go, Kirsty needs access to further testing to give doctors the full picture of what treatment would work best for her. These are: DNA sequencing, chemotherapy sensitivity testing and specialist tumour markers.
The fund raising campaign was launched by Kirsty’s friend, Brooke Darlington, with Kirsty’s sisters Kerry and Leah and also other relatives, friends and colleagues who are taking a leaping jump at raising the money for her treatment.
Brooke said: “We are asking for help from the community as we need to move faster than the NHS system allows. We are raising funds to give Kirsty immediate access to: Life-saving scans and diagnostics, specialist opinions, personalised, cutting-edge treatments (UK or abroad) and protocol that isn’t available on the NHS.
“These options WILL cost £50,000 plus. But this isn’t just about money. It’s about giving a mum 'more tomorrows', please help if you can, every penny counts towards giving Kirsty more time with her husband and children, being able to watch them grow and be there for them.
"If you think you can help by holding a charity event, please let us know as the more support we can get to reach our goal, the better.”
Details of fundraising and upcoming events can be found on the facebook page "Kirsty's Fundraising Page.”
To make a donation via gofundme please click HERE.