Kris Ranieri has stared down a head and neck cancer diagnosis thanks to the care and guidance of PA Hospital based clinicians, and her way of saying thanks is raising funds for research.
Though she opted to be treated at Greenslopes Private Hospital to take advantage of her private health insurance, Kris is running a 60th birthday fundraiser for head and neck cancer research at the PA for multiple reasons.
Firstly, her initial appointment and treatment plan was developed at an appointment at the PA Hospital by one of the PA’s multidisciplinary teams and secondly her desire to support locally based research in head and neck cancer.
With the Foundation and our incredible donors and supporters having supported head and neck cancer research by two of her treating clinicians Associate Professor Rahul Ladwa and Professor Benedict Panizza, Kris’s hope is that the funds she raises for her 60th birthday will help others who receive a cancer diagnosis to have better health outcomes.
Kris was diagnosed with HPV related squamous cell carcinoma in 2023, with her treatment regime being completed that same year.
“I found a lump in my neck and saw my GP. We just monitored it for a couple of weeks because it was the end of cold and flu season in August. After a few weeks, it hadn't gone. I had a biopsy on it that found I had a squamous cell in the lymph node which tested positive for HPV. My GP referred me to Dr. Panizza at the PA immediately.
“He had a look and then referred me to the Head and Neck Cancer Centre at the PA. I spent a day there with the whole team going through and speaking to all the different professionals on that multidisciplinary team including my medical Oncologist Dr Ladwa and ENT Dr Panizza and radiation oncologist Dr Howard Liu. We took the option to be treated privately because I have private health insurance.
“I had the standard treatment for HPV, seven weeks of radiation and three rounds of chemo. At about week five, I was doing really well and was a little bit full of myself, thinking, look at me go. Then came week six, it was like I'd been hit by a bus and ended up in hospital for a month.
“I couldn't hold anything down. I lost 26 kilos in about eight weeks, a lot of that time they couldn't get my potassium levels up either, so that was an issue. But I came through the other side and I'm cancer free now.”
Having seen and experienced how head a neck cancer can impact people’s lives and experienced the remarkable care and bedside manner of the PA’s head and neck cancer team, Kris wanted to raise funds for research efforts the team was pursuing for the benefit of future patients.
“With the current research and everything that the Centre is doing, along with what has been done in the past, I wanted to support that. I don’t need gifts, I’d rather be contributing to something that I benefited from,” Kris explains.
“If the research and everything is being done there provides better outcomes for people who've got this type of cancer, then I'd rather donations to help at a local level.
Kris hopes her fundraiser, which you can donate to here, will lead to research into new treatments options that help patients not just be cancer free but have better aesthetic outcomes as well.
“Radiation, it's a brutal treatment, it's full on. Like it really does hit you with a ton of bricks. But I was lucky. I didn't need surgery. I saw some pretty sad cases when I was up there with some people with significant facial disfigurement.”
“I'm very lucky to be where I am with access to excellent medical care. I have read about researchers looking into different surgeries and different ways to treat head and neck cancers and if I can contribute towards it, then I want to do that, because the treatment can be tough and some people were horribly disfigured or left with significant dental and other health issues as a result of their diagnosis and treatment.”
You can donate to Kris' 60th birthday fundraiser here.
Kris Ranieri has stared down a head and neck cancer diagnosis thanks to the care and guidance of PA Hospital based clinicians, and her way of saying thanks is raising funds for research.
Though she opted to be treated at Greenslopes Private Hospital to take advantage of her private health insurance, Kris is running a 60th birthday fundraiser for head and neck cancer research at the PA for multiple reasons.
Firstly, her initial appointment and treatment plan was developed at an appointment at the PA Hospital by one of the PA’s multidisciplinary teams and secondly her desire to support locally based research in head and neck cancer.
With the Foundation and our incredible donors and supporters having supported head and neck cancer research by two of her treating clinicians Associate Professor Rahul Ladwa and Professor Benedict Panizza, Kris’s hope is that the funds she raises for her 60th birthday will help others who receive a cancer diagnosis to have better health outcomes.
Kris was diagnosed with HPV related squamous cell carcinoma in 2023, with her treatment regime being completed that same year.
“I found a lump in my neck and saw my GP. We just monitored it for a couple of weeks because it was the end of cold and flu season in August. After a few weeks, it hadn't gone. I had a biopsy on it that found I had a squamous cell in the lymph node which tested positive for HPV. My GP referred me to Dr. Panizza at the PA immediately.
“He had a look and then referred me to the Head and Neck Cancer Centre at the PA. I spent a day there with the whole team going through and speaking to all the different professionals on that multidisciplinary team including my medical Oncologist Dr Ladwa and ENT Dr Panizza and radiation oncologist Dr Howard Liu. We took the option to be treated privately because I have private health insurance.
“I had the standard treatment for HPV, seven weeks of radiation and three rounds of chemo. At about week five, I was doing really well and was a little bit full of myself, thinking, look at me go. Then came week six, it was like I'd been hit by a bus and ended up in hospital for a month.
“I couldn't hold anything down. I lost 26 kilos in about eight weeks, a lot of that time they couldn't get my potassium levels up either, so that was an issue. But I came through the other side and I'm cancer free now.”
Having seen and experienced how head a neck cancer can impact people’s lives and experienced the remarkable care and bedside manner of the PA’s head and neck cancer team, Kris wanted to raise funds for research efforts the team was pursuing for the benefit of future patients.
“With the current research and everything that the Centre is doing, along with what has been done in the past, I wanted to support that. I don’t need gifts, I’d rather be contributing to something that I benefited from,” Kris explains.
“If the research and everything is being done there provides better outcomes for people who've got this type of cancer, then I'd rather donations to help at a local level.
Kris hopes her fundraiser, which you can donate to here, will lead to research into new treatments options that help patients not just be cancer free but have better aesthetic outcomes as well.
“Radiation, it's a brutal treatment, it's full on. Like it really does hit you with a ton of bricks. But I was lucky. I didn't need surgery. I saw some pretty sad cases when I was up there with some people with significant facial disfigurement.”
“I'm very lucky to be where I am with access to excellent medical care. I have read about researchers looking into different surgeries and different ways to treat head and neck cancers and if I can contribute towards it, then I want to do that, because the treatment can be tough and some people were horribly disfigured or left with significant dental and other health issues as a result of their diagnosis and treatment.”
You can donate to Kris' 60th birthday fundraiser here.
