A Community's Rally for Vern, Mel & Jed

Mel, Vern & Jed are very highly respected members of our community, they have lived in Bruce Rock for a very long time, and we feel like it’s time to rally together and give back during their time of need. Vern Jetta is a long-term and very valuable employee at the Shire of Bruce Rock and since Mel has been receiving treatment, he has not been able to return to work. After each chemotherapy session, Mel needs the support and full-time care from Vern, family and friends to recover in time for the next round. If Vern was not able to provide this level of care, Mel would need to stay in hospital or arrange other costly care between treatments.

Those who are lucky enough to know Mel understand that she is a very positive and happy person – and things have definitely not changed. She had a few moments in the beginning where she was down and upset about the situation, but she has adopted the mentality that she is not going to let this beat her, and the only way to do that is to stay positive and active where and when she can. She is very lucky to have a caring family who have stuck by her during the 11 weeks that she has now been in Perth receiving treatment. Vern & Jed have been home once to gather a few belongings and sort the house out, but apart from that they have been stuck in Perth, relying on their savings to get them through this tough time. Although they are still looking at another 10 weeks in Perth, they are feeling positive with the prognosis with some pleasing results coming their way in the past few weeks.

Adult acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. This type of cancer usually gets worse quickly if it is not treated – which Mel Blake and her family quickly discovered in June 2019. Mel noticed that she was getting very tired and thought it could be her iron levels playing up again. She then noticed a small cut on her hand was taking a long time to heal so she went to the local hospital where she was given antibiotics and a tetanus shot. After a few more days, Mel noticed bruises appearing on her legs, she thought maybe they were caused by gathering wood from the wood heap at home, however they kept appearing over the next few days and she knew they were suspicious. So it was back to the local doctor for a blood test – the test that unknowingly was going to save her life. The Haematologist called her and asked her to immediately travel to Perth – the normal number of platelets in the blood ranges from 150-300 – Mel’s were down to 24 and something needed to be done, quickly. When she arrived in Perth, a bone marrow test was carried out and the platelet count was now sitting at 12. Mel was told she had two weeks to live and she wasn’t leaving Perth any time soon.

She was given a week of constant chemotherapy to begin with via a pump, and now has 6 x 3hr treatments over 6 days with a 28 day break in between, due to the strength of the chemotherapy.

Any money raised through this fundraiser will be used to cover ongoing expenses such as food, electricity, car rego, fuel and of course the mounting medical expenses they are incurring.