Cherie Coker says there's only one thing she wants to do: Create more beautiful memories for her two children, aged 10 and 14. Photo / Denise Piper
Cherie Coker says there's only one thing she wants to do: Create more beautiful memories for her two children, aged 10 and 14. Photo / Denise Piper
Like many mothers, Cherie Coker’s life used to be pretty busy as she was running around after her two children: 14-year-old Ayla and 10-year-old Lachlan.
But all that changed in November 2021 when she was diagnosed with cancer and given just months to live.
The diagnosis was quite a shock for the then-45-year-old, who had been feeling pain and discomfort for more than a month.
“I was surprised because I had a CT scan but didn’t hear anything back, so I thought everything was okay.
“After about a month, the pain was so bad I ended up in the emergency department, and they gave me the diagnosis there - somehow, it had slipped.”
Coker was diagnosed with metastatic pancreaticobiliary adenocarcinoma - cancer in her pancreas which had spread to her liver, kidneys and spleen.
Given just months to live, she started chemotherapy, which gave her acute pains and left her too unwell to continue her work as a medical administrator.
While the treatment was unable to shrink her tumours, it kept them at bay until just over six months ago, when the cancer spread to her lungs.
A second chemotherapy drug was tried but did not work either, Coker said.
Determined to keep up the fight for her two children, she took part in a research trial and sent a liver biopsy to the US, where it was found she had a genetic mutation.
She was prescribed a targeted drug, Pemigatinib, which’d had a 60 per cent success rate in patients with similar forms of cancer.
The only problem is, Pemigatinib is not publicly funded by Pharmac and would cost Coker around $7200 a month.
Cherie Coker, pictured with her children Lachlan and Ayla prior to her diagnosis, says her cancer has been hard on the family.
Her oncologist applied to Pharmac for funding specifically for Coker, but it was declined.
“I feel let down by Pharmac. I’ve paid taxes all my life, I’m young, I’ve got two young children,” she said.
Coker is grateful a Givealittle page has been set up by a friend and it has already raised enough money for her first month of treatment, which she hopes to start early this week.
But she hoped more could be done to allow her to take the medication for longer, enabling her to spend more time with her children.
“The goal is to spend more time with my babies and make more memories,” she said.
“This is it: There’s no other medication or treatment after this.”
Pharmac’s director of pharmaceuticals, Geraldine MacGibbon, said while she was unable to provide comments about a specific individual, she sympathised with patients unable to get funding.
“We know it’s hard to hear you can’t get a medicine that your doctor has sought funding for on your behalf.”
Pharmac has to make some tough decisions about which medicines to fund for the best health outcomes for all New Zealanders, while staying within our budget, said MacGibbon.
Medicines funded through the Named Patient Pharmaceutical Assessment pathway are for individual patients in exceptional circumstances and funded from the same budget as all other nationally funded medicines.
Pemigatinib is not registered with Medsafe for use in New Zealand, she said.
Denise Piper is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years’ experience in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.
