Local woman Rachael (Roo) Stanford has received a life-affirming boost from the Upper Clutha Hospice Trust as she faces ongoing treatment for cancer. 

Roo, a former ski patroller at Treble Cone, was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer at the age of 37; she was the mother of a two year old and a six week old baby.

Roo and her husband Neil’s children are now three years old and six years old, and the family continue to face “horrendously expensive” treatments.

“To say it has been a difficult journey is quite the understatement,” Roo told the Wānaka App.

“I was literally days off death when I finally got diagnosed. 

“But I battled hard, and miraculously went from being absolutely riddled, to being almost cancer-free two years later.”

Unfortunately what happens with chemotherapy is that the cancer builds drug resistance, she said.

“I’ve become resistant to all the funded drugs, and the next drugs are unfunded,” Roo said.

“Now it’s started growing again. It’s quite scary.”

She has had 62 rounds of chemotherapy - the most rounds staff have seen at Dunstan Hospital, Roo said.

The fortnightly chemotherapy wipes her out for a full week, she said.

The Upper Clutha Hospice Trust helped support the family recently when Roo was in Christchurch undergoing heavy radiation treatment.

However, the family is “scrambling to access the unfunded but promising new drugs available”.

“We’re really struggling financially, I haven’t worked for three years and the costs of treatments are astronomical.”

Roo said the family had received so much support from their friends that they couldn’t expect more support from them.

Her friends have made a new Givealittle page and have encouraged her to reach out to the Wānaka community for support.

“There are still several treatments available ,and we are holding hope that one of these new drugs will smash this once and for all. I’ve completely amazed all the doctors so far, and outlived my prognosis by years. I plan on continuing to do so.”

PHOTO: Camilla Rutherford