Katie is 30. She's been living with bowel cancer since she was 26, and her NHS team have told her they have nothing more to offer.
Donations are handled entirely by GoFundMe. The button opens Katie's official page, which always shows the live total.
Katie Brien was 26 when she was diagnosed with bowel cancer. Since then she's been through multiple surgeries and several rounds of chemotherapy on the NHS, facing all of it with a sense of humour anyone who follows her will recognise.
The cancer has now come back for a third time and spread to her pelvis. She had surgery on 26 June, and her surgeons found that removing the tumour would cause permanent damage she'd have to live with for the rest of her life.
“After exhausting every treatment option available here in the UK, my medical team have told me there is nothing new they can offer through the NHS.”
Katie has since been in touch with the Hallwang Clinic in Germany, a private clinic offering integrative oncology and immunotherapy treatments that aren't available to her on the NHS. The clinic has reviewed her case and believes treatment is still possible. None of it is NHS funded, so the full cost falls to her.
In her own words: “I want to be here for my family, to live a full life, and to see what the future holds.”
The first stage is a three-week stay at the clinic costing around €110,000. The £50,000 target is a first step towards that, not the whole amount. The initial phase covers:
Katie has said every penny raised goes directly to treatment, travel and medical costs, and anything over the target goes towards further care.
Not everyone can give money right now, and that's fine. A share costs nothing and might reach someone who can.
About this page. WaitSmart's founder went to school with Katie, so we're using this corner of the site to help spread the word. The page isn't run by Katie, GoFundMe or the clinic, and it doesn't take any money or collect any details.
All donations go through Katie's official fundraiser on GoFundMe (short link: gofund.me/165c90c6f), organised by Katie Brien. The totals shown above are read from that fundraiser.
The description of the treatment reflects what Katie and the clinic have said, and nothing here is medical advice. If you're facing similar decisions, talk to your own medical team, or to a charity like Macmillan or Bowel Cancer UK.