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A well-loved North Mid patient is on a mission to give back to our hospital and cancer service that helped save her life twice.
35-year-old Kaz Foncette, from Tottenham, has been a patient at North Mid since she was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017.
After 15 months of gruelling treatment and other health scares, scans showed no signs of cancer. Sadly, just six months later, it had returned.
Gripped by fear that she might die again and the grim realisation that she’d have to do it all again, Kaz’s mental state deteriorated.
Despite all of this, there was one shining light throughout her darkest times – our chemotherapy team.
Kaz’s second battle with cancer was also massively helped by a scalp-cooling machine which was new to the Trust in 2019 and Kaz was the first North Mid patient to ever use it.
The machine helps prevent hair loss for selected cancer patients who are going through chemotherapy – something Kaz was keen to do as her hair has always been her identity.
Now, fuelled by helping cancer patients just like she once was, Kaz is raising £10,000 to fund a second scalp-cooling machine for North Mid.
'This is why I want to do everything I can to give cancer patients a boost'
She said: “When I had cancer, it literally controlled my life. Despite having a great support system around me, it isolated me and made me feel like I was alone.
“The first time around, I was in and out of hospital all the time, had to deal with heart failure and it destroyed me.
“I thought I was going to die.
“But one of the hardest things I had to deal with was losing my hair which has always been my identity and my everything.
“Losing your hair is something always associated with cancer patients and it’s one of the toughest things we all go through. It’s the cancer uniform and I didn’t want to wear it.
“I had the reality of losing who I was when I was first diagnosed and the threat of the same happening again crushed me. I didn’t want to live anymore.
“But the scalp-cooling machine really helped me, it preserved what hair I had left and it was just such a positive for me, it allowed me to have a focus and not forget who I was.
“This is why I want to do everything I can to give cancer patients a boost and the same opportunities that I had.”
'I will be forever grateful to the team for saving my life and always being there'
Like every cancer patient here at North Mid, Kaz was supported both physically and mentally by our amazing chemotherapy team and other services in our Trust.
Despite at times being rock bottom, the team dedicated themselves to helping Kaz get through her darkest times. She said the team not only saved her life but made it better.
She said: “The chemo team blew me away. They responded to all my wants, needs and were constantly going above and beyond for every patient in the department.
“They’d be there for a chat, make you smile when smiling was the last thing you wanted to do and were so amazing with just responding to everyone’s wants and needs.
“I will not only be forever grateful to the team for saving my life but for just going the extra mile by bringing some cheer and light to people who really needed it.
“I couldn’t fault them and this is why I wanted to help them too by fundraising for a second cooling-cap machine.”
Recognising the benefits the cooling cap machine had on her, Kaz was focused on donating a second one that will allow more cancer patients to use it at the same time.
She added: “Sometimes we can’t just keep moaning about things we don’t like, I’m part of this community, so I decided to help patient services and experiences because I’ve been through it.”
Since seeing not once but twice the dark realities of living with cancer, Kaz has provided constant support for cancer patients at North Mid.
Her charity, Wigs For Heroes, is 100% focused on supporting patients from North Mid by providing extra financial support for nicer wigs when going through chemo.
They also donate pamper bags which are given to North Mid patients every week on their first day of chemo.
Kaz also launched the reopening of the Macmillan Support Service last week at North Mid which was a service that supported her massively during her battles with cancer.
