Alisi Jack-Kaufusi has been diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer and, inspiringly, has created a bucket list so she can make the most of the time she has left. Photos / GoFundMe / Instagram
Alisi Jack-Kaufusi has been diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer and, inspiringly, has created a bucket list so she can make the most of the time she has left. Photos / GoFundMe / Instagram
A New Zealand woman diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer has, inspiringly, created a bucket list so she can make the most of the time she has left.
Alisi Jack-Kaufusi, originally from New Zealand but now living in Brisbane, was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer aged only 24, and hasbravely battled the disease for the last five years with many surgeries and rounds of chemotherapy.
She has now been given the news it is terminal, so she’s started a GoFundMe page to help raise money so she can tick things off her bucket list.
Alisi wants to do everything from skydiving to seeing the northern lights.
The fundraising page has already raised around $14,000.
Alisi Jack-Kaufusi was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer aged only 24. She’s started a GoFundMe page to help raise money so she can tick things off her bucket list. Photo / Instagram
“To be super honest, it was quite hard to list down the things ... I really wanted to do, because one day I’ll say, ‘Okay, I want to do this’, and then the next I’m like, ‘Hmm, no, maybe not’, then I go into a frenzy of ‘Oh my God, what do I want to do?’,” she said.
“I think it was the pressure that I was putting on myself to write down a list, but now I’m just going to go with the flow.”
Recently she admitted on Instagram while she loves crossing things off the list, it isn’t easy when she’s also undergoing treatment.
“It’s been a little tricky to tick some of the items off of my list because of chemotherapy. Having to live my life in three-week increments because of chemo and always having to reply ‘let’s see how I feel’ can be frustrating,” she explained.
In the meantime, Alisi continues to bravely share her story - the good, the bad and the utterly awful.
Alisi Jack-Kaufusi is bravely sharing all the things she wants to do before she dies. Photo / Instagram
Her Instagram account is peppered with the stuff you’d expect to see from a young woman, like swimsuit photos and cute snaps with friends; she also uses her platform to share in detail her battle with cancer.
The young woman shares the intimate parts of the ongoing battle, from what it’s like to start chemo again - “I get anxious and feel depressed” - to the toll of sharing her story so candidly. “The last couple of weeks have been hard mentally,” she recently wrote on Instagram.
The reason she shares her story is because she wants to raise awareness.
“Sharing my lived experience never gets easier, but I’m doing this for the women who are currently in the same situation as I am.
“Also for the women who are no longer here to use their voice and for our future generation of women. This is for our mothers, our sisters, and our daughters,” she wrote on social media.
Alisi’s work is so important because there are still no recommended screening tests for ovarian cancer for women who do not have symptoms and are not at high risk of developing ovarian cancer.
