The family of Bernice Glintzer is calling on the Middelburg community to assist in raising the necessary funding for her cancer treatment.

Bernice, a young wife and mother of two, was diagnosed with stage four Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) in May 2022, shortly after bringing her youngest child into the world.

TNBC tends to grow and spread faster, has fewer treatment options, and tends to have a worse prognosis than other types of invasive breast cancers, therefore requiring immediate and aggressive treatment.

Bernice started with several different types of chemotherapy treatments within the first two weeks of her diagnosis. None of those treatments were successful, resulting in the cancer spreading to her lungs, airway, veins and vocal chords.

She is currently at home, on permanent oxygen and supporting treatments.

Bernice’s doctor wants to start a new treatment, Trodelvy, which is a Trop-2-directed antibody and topoisomerase inhibitor drug conjugate.

The treatment, however, is very expensive, with costs amounting to hundreds of thousands of rands per three-week cycle, which her medical aid won’t cover until it has proven to show positive results.

For the time being, her doctor has decided to start her on Keytruda, which is also very expensive.

Bernice’s family have since established a BackABuddy fund with a target of R600 000, with the hopes of raising enough funding for her treatment.

Should anyone wish to make any contributions, they can visit the following link:

https://www.backabuddy.co.za/bernice-glintzer-5722572936016179089

• Bernice is a lifelong Middelburg resident. She attended Laerskool Uitkyk during her primary school years, and matriculated from HTS Middelburg.

She is married to Karl Glintzer, and the couple have two children aged four and two.