Community
18 July, 2025
Friend’s care sees strong support
A FUNDRAISER created by a friend has seen strong support for two Camperdown residents following a terminal cancer diagnosis.
The fundraiser, ‘Joy for Janine’, was created last Saturday and has already seen $3935 raised at time of publication.
‘Joy for Janine’ is aiming to support Andrew and Janine Kayler-Thomson following Mrs Kayler-Thomson’s leukemia diagnosis in March last year.
Mr Kayler-Thomson said the family has been “overwhelmed” with the support being shown from the community they have lived in for eight years.
“There’s a lot of close friends and friends of our son’s who have thrown in and chipped in their support for Janine,” he said.
“We’re extremely grateful for the organiser Jodi Spink – she’s one in a million.
“She’s really looked after us and has our best interests in heart.”
Mrs Kayler-Thomson had spent most of 2024 in Baxter Wing Six in University Geelong Hospital before receiving a bone marrow transplant in 2024.
Her terminal illness meant Just Relishing, a business the duo started up which was a passion of Mrs Kayler-Thomson’s, was forced to close its doors.
“We were quite devastated when she was diagnosed because we were just getting a good name for the business, and it was a passion of Janine’s that she wanted to do all her life,” Mr Kayler-Thomson said.
“She got to do it, but it’s very sad we’ve had to shut the doors.”
Mr Kayler-Thomson said it was a difficult journey but praised the efforts of the doctors and nurses looking after his wife.
“They’re very exceptional nurses and doctors who took care of her up there – they’re like angels,” he said.
“She had a very difficult time through the transplant and came out the other end not mobile – she struggled and got herself walking again through rehabilitation between January and March this year.
“She eventually got well enough to walk around on a frame and she was able to come home.
“She had been home for a few months, and we thought everything was going really well until her six-monthly check-up – they discovered the leukemia was coming back and there was pretty much nothing they could do to treat what was happening.
“The doctors and nurses will keep looking after her, but it will get to a stage, in the near future, where she will pass away.”
Mr Kayler-Thomson said while the initial plan to have a wake while his wife was still alive may not become a reality, they were going to catch up with as many family and friends as they could.
“We’re just going with whatever happens at the moment – we live day-by-day,” he said.
“If Janine wakes up in the morning, it’s going to be a good day.
“She’s going to fight on as much as we can, and we’re going to try and get as many of her friends and family to see her as we can.”
To donate to ‘Joy for Janine’, visit www.gofundme.com/f/joy-for-janine.
Read More: Camperdown