Help Vaughan get this cancer out

Just over a month ago Vaughan was diagnosed with tongue cancer and will require invasive reconstructive surgery to remove the cancer before it spreads and further endangers his chance of survival.

To wait to have surgery in the public system could cost Vaughan his life.

The cost to have the cancer removed privately is $90,000 for the surgery alone. Of course there will then be additional costs as Vaughan faces a lengthy rehabilitation.

Over the last 2-3 years Vaughan & Amanda have been forced to drastically cut back financially and cancel a number of outgoing expenses when faced the issue of an Auckland leaky home. This was a lengthy, expensive ordeal, which resulted in the sale of the home for significantly less than it's worth. The house had a recent final inspection report on file, so of course this was a shock, as was being diagnosed with tongue cancer (for someone who is fit and has never smoked). Financially they have only just started trying to build again, only to be faced with this.

Vaughan’s tongue cancer is extremely aggressive and 2 things are important - 1 - the procedures & 2 - the timing / delays.

Health insurance is a luxury when trying to hang on to the family home, so unfortunately was not an option through this period of financial difficulty.

The Procedure:

It can be up to 10+ hrs of reconstructive surgery. Surgeons get to the tongue via side of neck. They will remove around 1/3 of the r/h side lateral tongue plus RHS lymph nodes.

They then take a flap of skin, flesh & blood tissue from non dominant inner forearm to do a reconstruction. Then take a graft from thigh to cover the forearm.

Recovery is up to 2 weeks in hospital, fed via tube and breathing through tracheotomy. Significant swelling of tongue & throat is to be expected, plus recovery of forearm mobility may take few months. There are other risks of the neck surgery & the operation. It is major reconstructive surgery, not just removing a lump & sewing back up.

Vaughan should be out of hospital within 2 weeks & hopefully have the breathing tube removed from neck. He will then need recovery & therapy to learn to eat, swallow & talk, which may take 4-6 months.

If lymph tests positive then there will be radiotherapy & recovery will be up to 12 mths.

Timing :

The public system initially said it was looking like mid to end Jan 2016 for the operation.

The problem with that is time. By that date there is a high probability it would have spread to Vaughan’s lymph nodes, which then means the odds of it going further increase and his likelihood of survival falls from 80% currently to only 50%.

Vaughan can book in to have surgery privately which will mean a much sooner surgery date (30th November), giving him a higher chance of recovery of 80/20, as the cancer will be out sooner with less chance to grow and spread.

So lets help Vaughan get this cancer out now, spread the word and dig deep.