Make a difference!

This is the whole story of Tone-Elisabeth Berg (27) and Espen Simonsen (29) who met in February of 2002. Young and in love, they had their whole future ahead of them, until February 2004, when Tone got ovarian cancer.

Tone first saw a doctor in February 2004 because of stomach pains, after multiple visits with a substitute doctor, she finally saw her regular doctor, who immediately sent her to have an ultra sound. Three weeks later, on April 19, she had the ultrasound examination. It showed that she might have a tumour in the lower parts of her abdomen. Back at the doctor's office, Tone was immediately sent to Akershus University Hospital (AHUS).

The stay in AHUS was a terrifying week of examinations and thoughts of what would happen. The support of family, friends, nurses and Dr. Eraker was very helpful in this trying time. The examinations showed that Tone had ovarian cancer, stage 3, which meant that the cancer had spread outside the ovaries. In Tone's case it had spread to her uterus, intestines, liver and the abdominal membrane. AHUS saw that their ability to help Tone was limited, and assessed that the necessary surgery would have to be done at the Radium Hospital.

The meeting with the Radium Hospital was scary. You don't feel like you belong in a ward with older women who have cancer when you are 25 years old. But thanks to professional nurses, the Radium Hospital soon became a safe haven for Tone. The first surgery was performed by Professor Tropé. Tone was on the operating table for eight hours. The operation was a success! The ovaries, the uterus, parts of the liver and 50cm of intestine had to be removed. The doctors had to perforate a lung in order to reach the cancerous cells on the abdominal membrane and the liver. This year Tone celebrated the Norwegian National Day, May 17., in the Radium Hospital. She recovered quite rapidly from the invasive surgery, and started chemo therapy only two weeks later. Then followed six months of treatments, in which Tone and Espen focused on the life they were hoping to have as soon as the tough treatment was over.

In September of 2004, the doctors found no more cancerous cells in Tone, but scheduled regular tests for her every three months for the following five years. She let her hair grow back out, and used this time to regain mental and physical strength, hoping to return to work soon.

In a control in February 2005, the day after Tone was supposed to be going back to work, the doctors found that the cancer was back, and Tone had to undergo chemo therapy once again. One treatment after the other was tried on Tone, but none seemed to work. The relapse had been discovered at an early stage, however, so they were still optimistic about finding a cure that would work.

In the summer of 2005 Tone fell ill with severe stomach aches and constipation. She was vomiting a lot, and was generally in a poor shape. The tumour was growing, and started causing problems, because it was squeezing her intestines and her urinary tract. Eventually, Tone had to have a kidney catheter on her left side. Tone was still undergoing new types of chemo therapy, in hopes that one would work. Her problems with constipation were getting worse, and in February 2006, Tone became acutely ill during a trip to Denmark.

A fistula formed in Tone's bowels. (The body made its own passageway from the intestines to the vagina.) Tone was once again admitted to the Radium Hospital, and another invasive surgery was prepared. They did not really want to operate on Tone at this point, because the cancer was so aggressive. However, the fistula made it necessary to operate, and the doctors planned an ileostomy. ( A surgical procedure where the ileum ( small intestine) is attached to the abdominal wall to a bag outside the body.) This time the surgery was performed by intestine specialist, Dr. Sørensen. Tone was on the operating table for ten hours, and it was a difficult job for the surgeons. The tumour had attached to the intestines, and formed one large "lump" in the abdomen. One and a half meters of the intestines had to be removed; among with a lot of the cancerous tissue, but once again the surgery was a success. The surgeons managed to operate the intestines so that they didn't have to make a stoma.

The long and hard surgery proved difficult to recover from for Tone, who was already weakened after several months of chemo therapy. Her body was too weak to endure new treatments after the surgery, and once again the cancer spread. A couple of months in the hospital followed, with a lot of complications. Tone had to have a kidney catheter on her right side, as well as on her left, plus a morphine pump to numb the increasing pains. In May the doctors saw no other way out than to operate again, and perform the ileostomy. The cancer caused too many problems by squeezing on the intestines, and causing constipation. The third, and so far last, surgery was also successful. A last chemo therapy treatment was tried in May 2006, but with no success. In June the devastating verdict came from the doctors: they had done everything in their power to help Tone, and had nothing more to offer. They stopped all treatments, because this was only breaking down Tone's body further. Today she is only receiving analgesic treatment.

Our hope today is an alternative form of treatment, used in other countries, but that hasn't been put to use in Norway. This treatment is being used on other cancer patients in Tone's situation, and also on other Norwegians. Our challenge is that this treatment is expensive, and if we want to try it in Germany, one of the countries where it is offered, we have to pay for it ourselves.

The treatment that we have found is called Avastin, and it is used as traditional cancer treatment in several other countries. It has not been put to use in Norway because it is too expensive. A single treatment of this medication costs about 24 000, - NOK, and a normal cure will consist of 6 treatments. In addition to this we will have to pay for the trip and housing. The treatment will probably not cure Tone's cancer, but it can slow down the growth, so that she can live with cancer for a longer time, and maybe one day be saved by new medicines.

Our hope is that we through this web site, and the fund which has been established, can afford this alternative treatment, so that Tone and Espen can enjoy their lives together. Any remainder of the fund will be given to the Youth Group of the Norwegian Cancer Society when Tone dies.