"It gives a lot of strength" - Marion, who was suffering from cancer, was stunned by the encouragement and willingness to donate

Created: 04/13/2022, 08:00

By: Boris Forstner

They are infinitely grateful for all the help: Marion with her husband Thomas and their children Veronika and Korbinian.

© Boris Forstner

A fundraising campaign quickly raised 120,000 euros for an important drug.

Marion, who is suffering from cancer, and her husband Thomas are stunned by the encouragement.

Weilheim/Traubing – She laughs a lot, despite everything.

During a conversation in the kitchen of their house in Traubing, five-year-old Veronika whirls around, seven-month-old Korbinian alternates between laughing and crying in the high chair, but the 35-year-old remains calm.

She tells with a smile how she, as an enthusiastic costumer from near Steingaden, met her Thomas, who is active in the brass band Traubing, at the district music festival in Schongau in 2013.

How they got married, first got Veronika, built a house two years ago and little Korbinian made happiness perfect last year.

But that ended abruptly at the end of January.

Marion had felt for a long time that something was wrong with her left breast, "but I didn't think anything of it.

I was breastfeeding, so you always have knots," she says.

At the end of January she went to the doctor – and received the devastating news of breast cancer.

And an aggressive type at that – the tumor had grown so quickly that it no longer fit on the ultrasound image.

Breast cancer: Health insurance does not pay for new drug - family faces major financial problems

The first chemotherapy started straight away, with all the health restrictions that come with it.

"Because the tumor is so aggressive, it also absorbs the poison from the chemotherapy well," says Marion.

To improve the chance that the cancer won't come back quickly, there's a new drug that studies have shown to be effective.

The problem: Approval has so far only been granted for other types of cancer, not for breast cancer.

"The results are just as good in the studies, it will certainly be approved soon - but as long as this is not the case, the health insurance company will not cover the costs," says husband Thomas (42) describing the dilemma.

This led to two problems.

On the one hand financially, because a single dose of the drug costs a little more than 7,000 euros, according to Marion.

"And I need 17 gifts," she says - that's around 120,000 euros, which the family, who just built a house that still looks like a construction site, could never have raised.

Second, there was the time factor.

Because the oncologist only wants to administer the new drug, so that it is particularly effective, around the upcoming operation with further chemo cycles in a few months.

Therapy with the expensive drug would have to start in just a few weeks.

“All of a sudden, time was our biggest enemy,” says Marion.

That was the state of affairs when she informed her boss Michael Walk and his daughter Katharina about her situation on the phone about two weeks ago.

She worked in the Weilheim branch of the butcher shop and raves: "We're just a great team there." Walk told her that they would help her.

"Of course I was happy about that.

But I never thought what would happen after that," says Marion.

By the way:

Fundraising campaign for Marion goes viral - almost 1000 participants in fundraiser

Because the butcher shop started an unprecedented fundraiser with its own 20,000 euros, which was not only picked up by the local newspaper, but also went viral on social networks and was shared in many ways.

Thomas found out how interested people were in the fate of the mother of two when a colleague at Compact Dynamics in Starnberg spontaneously offered to donate 1,000 euros because he was so moved by his wife's fate.

"I never thought it would have such an impact," says Marion, shaking her head.

"It gives you a lot of strength." And, she says, laughing again: "Sometimes it's good if you're known like a sore thumb."

Because there was action everywhere.

In Rottenbuch at the weekend, a charity run supported by the Schönegger Käsealm with almost 1000 participants, which a relative had organized, and on Sunday a benefit concert by the brass band Traubing, the proceeds of which also went to the donation account.

For Marion, it wasn't easy to process all the support: "First of all, you have to allow yourself to be helped," she says.

But she is infinitely grateful that she now has a better chance of defeating the insidious disease.

Marion needs expensive medicine - the required donation amount has been reached

The required donation amount was already reached before the campaigns at the weekend.

This is confirmed by Markus Hochmuth, who organized the fundraiser for the Boneberger butcher's shop - but he didn't have an exact sum ready either.

Marion and Thomas have already considered transferring part of the remaining money back or passing it on to a cancer foundation - although the donors wanted to help Marion in particular.

Difficult decisions, but initially irrelevant.

Now it's all about getting healthy again.

At the final photo op, Marion says she's dying to get back to work and looks at a blank white space on the house that's still waiting to be decorated.

"I'll definitely do that," says the passionate Lüftlmalerin.

The 35-year-old will continue to fight - mentally supported by many, many people.

Here you can find more current news from the region around Schongau and Weilheim.