Donna West may have to go to Australia to receive life-extending treatment. Photo: Jesse Wood
Kihikihi resident Donna West beat breast cancer in 2021 but after a Stage 4 Her2-low metastatic breast cancer diagnosis late last year, she wants her family to know she is fighting for them.
Donna is a wife, sister, aunty, cousin, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Her family are her “why.
This is Donna West’s family – her why.
“It’s called metastatic breast cancer because they’ve metastasised to other parts of the body,” Donna said. “I have several lumps on my back, leg and at the back of my lungs. They can’t take them out because there’s too many. But I don’t feel ill.
“No one ever told me that you could have a breast cancer out of the breast – apparently, it’s quite common. At this stage, I’ve got none in any major organs. So that’s my shining light.”
As Donna goes through chemotherapy treatment, her Fonterra family have also been incredibly supportive of her and husband Eric.
The King Country-raised duo met at Taumarunui High School and are set to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next year.
Donna is now faced with the possibility of having to move to Australia for life-extending treatment but she doesn’t want to leave her support network behind.
“I tried the first treatment of chemo and it didn’t work. They have now put me on the drug Enhertu. Pharmac approved this treatment for Her2-positive in 2025, but I’ve got Her2-low – meaning there’s a lower level of detectable hormone in it.
Woolworths Bricks have become one of Donna’s hobbies at home. Photo: Jesse Wood
“Pharmac haven’t approved Enhertu for Her2-low but it has been Medsafe approved. It has been quite successful with this type of breast cancer.
“I’m looking into going to Australia because it’s free there. All you do is pay for the prescription, about $30. Here it costs about $9000 every three weeks.”
Donna’s first round of Enhertu was funded through Southern Cross, but as a one-off payment.
Her second and third rounds have been generously funded by donors on a Givealittle page – about $16,000 so far – but it’s not sustainable.
Son Mason lives in Victoria and Donna could stay with him, but that’s not ideal.
“My support network is here, and my husband would have to stay here to work,” she said. “But if this works, and it’s the best one for me, we’re going to have to look at treatment overseas. For how long? Who knows.”
Donna and Eric moved to Te Awamutu just over a decade ago. They’ve both been employed by Fonterra at the Te Awamutu site.
“We moved from Taumarunui to Australia for 15 years. We came back in 1994,” Donna said. “Eric worked at Affco in Taumarunui, but that was closing so they brought him to Hamilton.
“He moved to a job as maintenance engineer at Fonterra Te Awamutu and has been there for about 23 years.
“I worked at Fonterra for 14 years. First at London Street in Hamilton and then a position came up in Te Awamutu.
“I thought I’d come down here because I wanted a change from the office. So we moved to Kihikihi.”
Fonterra runs in the family; their son Colby works at Farm Source in Hamilton and daughter Amanda in the Fonterra office in London Street.
Waikato-wide, Fonterra employees have been right behind the Wests.
Donna’s Fonterra friends gave her Lego flowers so they stay bright and cheerful. Photo: Jesse Wood
“I retired last year on July 31. I had all these things planned out that I was going to do with the grandkids and this has put a stop to that,” Donna said.
“They’re like a big family at Fonterra in Te Awamutu. They’ve been just brilliant. Donating and dropping off meals. It’s like I haven’t left.
“The guys from Eric’s workshop have brought us Red Kitchen frozen meals and they gave me Lego flowers because they said real flowers will die. I can sit here, look at them and know who’s given them to me.”
Donna said she’s happy that Eric is still at work with his network.
“The support from the guys he works with and the site as a whole is phenomenal,” she said. “They’re his support group. People don’t often think about the partners.
“Fonterra are very good at supporting their people. They’ve said to Eric, let us know if you need a bit of time off. He takes me to my treatments in Hamilton and other related appointments. I can’t drive for the first two weeks after my treatments.”
Donna has also received good support from the Breast Cancer Society and Sweet Louise New Zealand.
Knitting peggy squares for premature babies, building Woolworths Bricks sets and puzzles are among the hobbies that keep her busy – but her biggest purpose is family.
“There have been some quite generous donations…I won’t know whether I’m at the stabilised stage yet until we find the treatment that will work. Initially, we were given the impression from the specialist that I had six months.
“But we’ve since learnt that if we can get it under control and find the combination of chemo or other treatments, we might be able to keep it at bay for several years.
“Then I can spend more time with my family and playing with the kids.”
Donna West may have to go to Australia to receive life-extending treatment. Photo: Jesse Wood
