Givealittle<\/a> post said Bevacizumab has recently shown much promise for people in her situation. <\/p>\n\u201cI actually spoke to David Seymour [at a rally], and I\u2019m like, \u2018Why?\u2019 How can they turn around and go, \u2018We\u2019ll fund it for this one, but not this one?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s like playing Russian roulette with people\u2019s lives … I believe, a lot of people are dying because they can\u2019t afford these unfunded drugs,\u201d Robertson said. <\/p>\n
She said she was aware of people having to sell their homes just to afford treatment. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s sad actually, like if I could, I\u2019d move to Australia, the drug I\u2019m on is free in Australia … I never wanted to do a Givealittle, but I have to now,\u201d Robertson said. <\/p>\n
She said she thinks there should be a push for more at-home bowel screening kits, which could help take the pressure off the health system. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf it comes up positive [for blood], it doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019ve got cancer, but it means get to the doctor and get looking at what\u2019s going on.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"At-home]()
At-home bowel screening kits should be used to greater advantage as a potential early warning of bowel cancer, Jackie Robertson says. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Early symptoms <\/p>\n
Robertson said she was an extremely fit and healthy marathon runner, who always had yearly blood tests and had never smoked, so the diagnosis came as a complete shock. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was doing a few marathons, and the last one was about August, and I just didn\u2019t feel like I recovered well, so I called my doctor,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
After getting her blood taken, she was told her liver enzymes were \u201creally high\u201d. <\/p>\n
Following several negative tests for other conditions, her GP pushed for a deeper look. <\/p>\n
![\"Jackie]()
Jackie Robertson says she was an extremely fit and healthy marathon runner. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
After Robertson underwent an ultrasound, images showed \u201ccloudy bits\u201d on her liver, where she was eventually diagnosed with Stage 4 bowel cancer that had spread to her liver. <\/p>\n
Robertson said she had put her on-and-off bleeding down to the impact of hemorrhoids after the birth of her son. She had also ascribed tummy troubles to being intolerant of certain foods. <\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t have the typical symptoms, but now looking back at it, maybe I did,\u201d Robertson said. <\/p>\n
She said she has gone through 40 rounds of chemotherapy because surgery was never an option due to the size and location of the tumours. <\/p>\n
![\"Jackie]()
Jackie Robertson said as well as being extremely fit, she had always had yearly blood tests and had never smoked, so the diagnosis came as a complete shock. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Life with cancer <\/p>\n
Robertson said cancer has completely changed her perspective, giving her a deeper appreciation for every moment of life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a real rollercoaster, and it\u2019s sort of like a s****y rollercoaster you can\u2019t get off.\u201d <\/p>\n
She said her son dropped down to half-days at school after his anxiety \u201cskyrocketed\u201d when she was first diagnosed. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really hard with Zac being non-verbal autistic. I\u2019ve always been his biggest cheerleader in life … you just look at him and think, \u2018I just have to keep fighting\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey say autistic kids don\u2019t show emotion, but we\u2019ll be going for walks and all that, and he\u2019ll just hook his arm around me or just hold my hand,\u201d Robertson said. <\/p>\n
Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bowel cancer is the second-highest cause of cancer death in New Zealand, second only to lung cancer. Bowel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[542,119774,112398,36334,2534,50070,3401,18791,51175,2082,738,42,119772,89195,130,6178,43,119773,1118,1597,58218,5433,1361,2044,40,38,41,39,112459,102],"class_list":["post-192343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-access","tag-advocating","tag-autistic","tag-bowel","tag-cancer","tag-desperately","tag-drug","tag-fighting","tag-fights","tag-for","tag-funding","tag-headlines","tag-lifeprolonging","tag-lifesaving","tag-more","tag-mother","tag-news","tag-nonverbal","tag-of","tag-patient","tag-single","tag-stage","tag-that","tag-time","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-unfunded","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}