The road ahead for Faye is difficult, but she's not alone.
That's because
of people like you.
Every year, thousands of South Australians from across the state travel to Adelaide for cancer treatment. For some, it's a few critical appointments to confirm or rule out a diagnosis. For others, it's a continual back and forth from home to hospital, clocking hundreds of kilometres across many anxious weeks and months. And more South Australians than ever before are reaching out to Cancer Council SA for help to cover the costs of getting there.
In March alone, Cancer Council SA saw a 200 per cent increase in financial assistance compared to the same time last year.
More regional people are telling us that the cost of staying close to treatment, on top of their household bills, is becoming impossible to manage.
Your donation helps ensure no one faces cancer alone.
$55
can help ease the financial strain of cancer through our Financial Assistance Program.
Helping cover bills, fuel and urgent costs, so no one has to choose between treatment and everyday living.
$120
will provide access to Cancer Council SA's 13 11 20 Support line.
The 13 11 20 service makes sure no one faces cancer alone, with qualified health professionals providing emotional and practical support when it's needed most.
$166
can support regional South Australians with affordable accommodation at Greenhill Lodge.
Ensuring they can access potentially life-saving treatment without the barrier of accommodation costs.
Faye's home is in Mundulla, around 270 kilometres from Adelaide, where she needs to be for treatment. Although she'd love to stay with her daughter, with Faye's immunity compromised, even the everyday illnesses her grandson brings home from daycare make it risky. A hotel was her next option -
"I would never have been able to afford it. Well, I could afford it, but it would have taken all of my savings", says Faye.
Thankfully, Faye learned about Cancer Council SA's Greenhill Lodge - a home away from home for regional South Australians facing cancer. A safe place to stay that's close to treatment, without the financial stress.
Last year, Cancer Council SA's Greenhill Lodge provided more than almost 34,000 nights of accommodation to South Australians going through treatment, and the people who care for them. Without the Lodge, many of them would have faced the same choice Faye did.
After her chemotherapy, Faye went home to Mundulla twice for a couple of weeks at a time. The country air helped. Seeing her neighbours helped. But now, with the cost of living where it is, she's made a different decision.
"I won't be going home until all the treatment is over. With the price of fuel and all that kind of stuff now, I've got my family saying ‘bugger that’. It's not a priority for them. But I do think of that", Faye says.
For Faye, cancer treatment means not being able to see her elderly mum in her home town. It means not being able to stay with her daughter and grandson. Choosing to stay in Adelaide for treatment is a practical decision, but the cost of that decision is measured in being far from home, missing her community and her loved ones.
While Faye misses her normal life in Mundulla, she finds comfort in knowing she has her Greenhill Lodge family, that help make it a home away from home. "When I first came down in December, I was on the fifth floor and there was a group of people. Some from Broken Hill... and a few from Port Lincoln. We were all on the same floor and for some reason we bonded a little bit. We formed our own little support network... We've actually got a little blog going called ‘The Penthouse Suite’."
For regional people, hundreds of kilometres from home, that kind of community matters.
