Killarney Jeffares, Hastings who has advanced cancer is raising funds on a 'Give a little' page to pay for her kids and grandchildren to come over from Australia. Video Warren Buckland.
Killarney Jeffares wants to spend her final months reading and singing with her mokopuna, walking barefoot on the grass and spending time at the beach with whānau.
However, the Flaxmere woman faces an uphill battle to get her three children and seven mokopuna living in the Australian outback home with"shockingly high" costs.
The former teacher and grandmother of 17 was first diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2017 and was given a few months to live.
During a surgery to have the tumour, along with parts of her bowel removed, it was discovered she had been misdiagnosed and instead had ovarian cancer.
Flaxmere woman Killarney Jeffares, wants to spend her final months with her whānau, including several in Queensland, Australia, after being given a terminal cancer diagnosis. Photo / Warren Buckland
A new treatment plan was established, and over the past four years she has undergone extensive treatment, having her uterus and ovaries removed, and undergoing three different types of chemotherapy across multiple cycles.
It took a heavy toll on her both physically and mentally.
"It was really traumatic. You have no idea the impact it can have on you," Killarney said.
Recent results from her three-monthly review in June were not what she hoped for.
Killarney was given two treatment options, rejecting another round of "aggressive" chemotherapy which had a 10 per cent chance of being effective.
Along with the support of her medical specialists and her "close-knit family", she made the decision not to go ahead and was given an estimated six months to live.
"I want quality not quantity."
Her family has been with her throughout, with three of her five children video-calling into meetings with doctors and funeral directors from their homes in Queensland, Australia.
Despite more than 4000 kilometre distance, Killarney Jeffares regularly chats to her children and grandchildren in their Cloncurry, Queensland homes via video-call. Photo / Warren Buckland
With the Australia-bubble now popped and temporarily suspended, her three children are currently working through their paperwork to be granted an exemption from MIQ and to isolate at her home instead.
One daughter has received a quote of $12,000 for her and her four children to fly home to Napier.
That's without the additional cost of MIQ and getting a room in the much in demand isolation facilities.
Killarney estimates the family will need to raise between $30,000 to $40,000 for them to all get home.
"With the current international border restrictions and mandatory quarantine requirements, the cost to get everyone home is significant.
"The prices were a shock."
She said it was "scary" and "heartbreaking" to think they might not be able to.
"They want to come home."
Killarney estimates the family will need to raise between $30,000-$40,000 for her three children and seven grandchildren in outback Australia to come home. Photo / Warren Buckland
She wants to spend her remaining months travelling and making memories with her whānau.
She also wants to visit Tane Mahuta in Northland and spend time at the beach.
The ex-Camberley School teacher said working with children, "kept me humble and fed my energy".
The family has set up a Givealittle page, to help with the costs of getting her whānau home, which has raised more than $5000.
It can be found online at givealittle.co.nz/cause/help-raise-funds-for-treatment-options
