"He went out to pick up his lunch and felt a pop in his chest, got a little lightheaded and sat down in his parked car to let it pass. She told Edinburgh Live: "Graeme went to work as normal, feeling pretty good. READ MORE - Disabled Scottish teen 'had head bashed off walls' and 'stabbed by pencil' by evil bulliesĪlexa, 40, from Prestonpans, told how baffled medics had run a litany of tests before a junior doctor uncovered the source of the problem. The 42-year-old was blue-lit to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh due to a suspected issue with his heart, but spent seven hours in A&E before a a CT scan revealed the dad-of-one had an aortic dissection and required an immediate procedure to save his life. ‘‘But if I’m going to win, that’s what I’ve got to do.’’Īnd, if his health continues to improve, he wants to fight to get the ‘‘magic pills’ even partially-funded, to help others who find themselves in a similar position.A dad from East Lothian was rushed to hospital for seven-hour emergency open heart surgery after suffering chest pains at work.Īlexa Hill hurried to the bedside of husband Graeme after he felt a "pop" before shooting pains spread across his upper body. ‘‘I realise it’s quite challenging to reset your dial … if I get tired I’ve got to stop and go to bed, that’s a different mentality for me to comprehend. Hamish is now looking for ward to a sense of normality, and hoping to return to work ‘‘in some capacity’’ when he can. Hamish: “For it to make such a remarkable difference – to be bed-ridden, sit up and go to the toilet by myself, for me, it was quite a liberating change.” “This medication has saved Hamish’s life, or at least given him more time to live, and spend time with us.” ‘‘We’re in a position where we’ve been able to have friends fundraising for us, which is amazing, but there are other people that honestly will be dying without this medication,’’ Jana says. They’re blown away by the support from the community, and strangers, who’ve even dropped off toys for their children Hunter, 8, and River, 6.Īlong with medical treatment, the money will also help with their mortgage and bills. He’ll stay on them for the next four-to-eight months, after which it’ll cost $50,000 for a double dose of immunotherapy, provided he’s well enough, one dose of which isn’t funded.ĭespite the horror of the past few months, they consider themselves lucky.Ī Givealittle page had by Sunday morning raised more than $140,000 of the family’s $210,000 goal. They cost $5500 a month and are killing the cancer cells. He’s dubbed the meds - Dabrafenib and Trametinib - ‘‘magic pills, because they’re unpronounceable”. Nine days later, he says, ‘‘I was on the way out the door, not in a box, but walking out of my own accord’’. ![]() However, after trying an unfunded medication - with a 35% chance of success - the improvement was almost immediate. Last month, he spent 19 days in Lakes District Hospital - for the first 10, he says, ‘‘I was on the way out’’. Hamish: ‘‘I don’t think I would have been around at that point.’’ ‘‘If we’d waited on the public system, we would have been waiting till about 10 days ago,’’ she says. Jana, a food blogger, called the oncology department a week later, conscious the family needed to move quickly, to be told the wait time at Dunedin Hospital was five-to-seven weeks.įriends then encouraged the couple to go private - after which a subsequent scan showed the cancer was also in his brain. Photo: Supplied‘‘That proved to be seriously incorrect.’’ Hunter Macpherson (8) keeps watch over his dad during a recent 19-day stay at Lakes District Hospital. ![]() On February 27, Dunedin Hospital’s Ear, Nose and Throat department said it was no longer their department, but he’d have an appointment with an oncologist in ‘‘one to two weeks’’. ![]() The letter, Jana says, “wasn’t pretty reading”. The father of two says on February 24 he received a letter informing him the cancer had metastasised and was now in his liver and stomach, and he needed to see an oncologist. Then, in February, during a routine scan in Queenstown, doctors ‘‘quick-smart said, ‘we need to send you to Christchurch’.’’ Photo: SuppliedQueenstown’s Jana Macpherson is in little doubt the private healthcare system has saved her husband’s life - or at least, given him more time with his family.Ī year ago her husband Hamish (49), Liquorland Five Mile’s manager and a wedding celebrant, had a melanoma lump in his neck removed.īut on January 1 this year, his health started to nosedive.Ĭonstantly tired, feeling generally unwell and continually burping, Hamish says his stomach was bigger, despite having stopped drinking alcohol.
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