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Jason Hooker with his 18-month-old son, Edward. Hooker’s family is trying to raise $10,000 a month for the next five months for his non-funded cancer treatment, to give him more time with his young child.
When Jason Hooker started experiencing pain in back, he didn’t think it was anything serious, his mother-in-law Vivienne Cox said.
The family had already had a near brush with cancer, when Vivienne’s grandson, Mikes, had developed a tumour in his brain, and they felt certain they would never have to deal with the disease again.
Now the family is dealing with a second cancer diagnosis. Hooker has been diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma, after tumours were found growing down the base of his spine, and has been given between six and 12 months to live.
However, a non-funded drug has been recommended to the family that will prolong Hooker’s life and give him more time with his infant son, Edward.
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The drug Hooker needs is called Encorafenib/binimetinib, and was one of the few medications proven to be affective for Hooker, Cox said. However, as it is unfunded, the drug costs $10,520 per month.
If Hooker was on the drug and was shown to improve within six months, the Government would pay for two to three more years of treatment, Hooker’s partner Kylie Ashdown said.
This will cost the family $52,600. With Cox and her partner paying for the first month of treatment, the family was trying to fundraise the rest, until it might be provided by the healthcare system.
The cancer diagnosis has been extremely hard on the entire family, Ashdown said. Sitting down and hearing Hooker had been given six months to a year was one of the “hardest things to hear.”
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Jason Hooker, his partner Kylie Ashdown, and their family are fund raising through Givealittle for Hooker’s cancer treatment. L-R Avian Hooker, Jason Hooker, Kylie Ashdown and Mikes Hooker.
Even harder was being forced to ask for donations. Hooker was a “very straight” man, who didn’t like sympathy or handouts, she said.
The family was just trying to give Hooker as much time as they could, Ashdown said, while keeping his quality of life.
The drug would hopefully shrink the tumours and stop Hooker from becoming paralysed from the waist down.
Hooker was transferred to Wellington Hospital in February, in an attempt to have the tumours removed, but was told that surgery was no longer an option.
Cox said Hooker’s diagnosis has been hard on the family, especially their sons, Mikes and Avian. Hooker’s youngest son, Edward, is only 18 months old, and will not remember his father when he gets older.
“It’s just hard,” Ashdown said. “It’s hard asking for something to extend someone’s life.”
The family has created a Givealittle page to fundraise for the medication Hooker needs.
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