{"id":287148,"date":"2026-02-16T19:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T19:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/287148\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T19:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T19:48:08","slug":"matakana-mum-with-stage-4-lung-cancer-in-urgent-bid-to-fund-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/287148\/","title":{"rendered":"Matakana mum with stage 4 lung cancer in urgent bid to fund treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cMy dream is to watch my babies and husband grow old in good health,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Goddard\u2018s close friend, Karis Uddenburg, told the Herald Goddard was given just six months to live, but now, over a year later, she urgently needs treatment to give her the best chance at recovery. <\/p>\n

Goddard is currently in hospital after her health has recently declined.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been doing everything that she can possibly do, but she\u2019s very weak at the moment, and a lot of the treatments haven\u2019t worked,\u201d Uddenburg said. <\/p>\n

Uddenburg said the future is a scary thing for them to think about.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially since she\u2019s gone downhill so fast over this past couple of months. She\u2019s not ready to stop fighting yet,\u201d Uddenburg said. <\/p>\n

Journey to diagnosis <\/p>\n

Lung Foundation New Zealand said every year across the country, more people die of lung cancer than of breast cancer, prostate cancer and melanoma combined. <\/p>\n

In a 2024 report<\/a> by the Cancer Control Agency, more than half of all lung cancers<\/a> are not diagnosed until an emergency department visit. <\/p>\n

Uddenburg said in the years leading up to her friend\u2019s diagnosis, Goddard had been seeking medical advice after experiencing ongoing pain and changes in her health. <\/p>\n

She said Goddard did not have a cough, which is a symptom many people associate with the disease.<\/p>\n

\"MatakanaMatakana local Tahnee Goddard, a mother of a 13, 11 and 3-year-old received the shock diagnosis just before Christmas in 2024 when she was 39. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019d been going to the doctors numerous times … no one could give her any sort of answers,\u201d Uddenburg said. <\/p>\n

It was only after her symptoms escalated that further investigations were carried out. <\/p>\n

Uddenburg said when Goddard went to an emergency doctor, the medical staff noticed they could not hear anything on her left side. <\/p>\n

She said Goddard was sent to hospital, where she was eventually diagnosed.<\/p>\n

Treatment <\/p>\n

Since her diagnosis, the cancer has progressed aggressively, and Uddenberg said tumours have spread to other areas of her body, including her spine, where one tumour has compressed her nerves. <\/p>\n

\u201cAbout a month ago, she went to stand up, and her legs just wouldn\u2019t work,\u201d Uddenberg said. <\/p>\n

She said her friend remains in significant pain, and another tumour is blocking a major blood vessel near her heart. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a high chance that she could have a heart attack before the stent gets put in,\u201d Uddenburg said. <\/p>\n

\"TahneeTahnee Goddard is a devoted mother and a loving wife. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Despite everything, Uddenburg said Goddard remains focused on her children and maintaining normality for them as much as possible. <\/p>\n

Uddenburg said her friend is a devoted mother and a loving wife, with her family at the heart of everything she does. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe is incredibly strong. She\u2019s always put her kids first, giving them experiences, travelling with them, and showing them the world. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe has always lived a very healthy lifestyle, eating well and taking care of herself, which makes this even harder to comprehend,\u201d Uddenburg said. <\/p>\n

A Givealittle<\/a> has been set up to help fund urgent treatment, with each round costing $10,269 and total expenses expected to exceed $100,000. <\/p>\n

\"TahneeTahnee Goddard remains focused on her children and maintaining normality for them as much as possible. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

The page said the funds will go towards treatment and associated medical costs, including specialist appointments and medications. <\/p>\n

Goddard and her husband, Satya, run Cafe Nectar and cosmetic tattoo studio Needle and Rose, based at Morris & James in Matakana. <\/p>\n

Goddard said she wanted to thank everyone for their support and love towards her family. <\/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":"\u201cMy dream is to watch my babies and husband grow old in good health,\u201d she said. Goddard\u2018s close…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,3221,1040,2534,796,2082,295,78,48949,64955,57912,6178,2721,111,43,139,69,11929,12633,5433,1529,61,6859,6173,2766,25444,5977,102,1530,4741],"class_list":{"0":"post-287148","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-after","9":"tag-battling","10":"tag-bid","11":"tag-cancer","12":"tag-diagnosis","13":"tag-for","14":"tag-fund","15":"tag-in","16":"tag-initially","17":"tag-lung","18":"tag-matakana","19":"tag-mother","20":"tag-mum","21":"tag-new-zealand","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-newzealand","24":"tag-nz","25":"tag-searching","26":"tag-spent","27":"tag-stage","28":"tag-three","29":"tag-to","30":"tag-told","31":"tag-too","32":"tag-treatment","33":"tag-urgent","34":"tag-which","35":"tag-with","36":"tag-years","37":"tag-young"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287148","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=287148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}