Central Hawke’s Bay mum Alicia Brough fights aggressive cancer, hopes for life-saving treatment

Central Hawke’s Bay mum of two Alicia Brough initially thought her sore leg was a sports or farming injury – before the devastating news it was a cancer that could kill her.

Brough, 40, has terminal stage four clear cell sarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of soft tissue cancer that is difficult to treat.

But giving up is hardly an option for Brough, who has her children, aged 4 and 6, and husband James to consider.

“Once you have given up in your mind, your body gives up right behind it.”

Unafraid of the odds stacked against her, she is determined to give life a fighting chance and is now looking for treatment overseas.

Alicia Brough has stage four clear cell sarcoma and is in the process of raising money for treatment in Mexico.

She has been told the cancer has spread further into her lymph nodes and lungs, and surgery is no longer an option.

She also has another tumour growing in the back of her leg.

“I got a phone call last month saying we’re not operating anymore.”

Brough’s journey with cancer started as a sore leg, which she put down to an active lifestyle and tendonitis.

In 2022, she’d had enough of the intense throbbing pain in her upper right quad tendon and decided more investigation into her health was needed.

“It was intense, it was hot, burning to touch, my muscle in my quad was wasting away, and that’s what I was getting quite concerned about.

“Never in a million years would I have thought it would be cancer.

“I just thought I’m rough as guts. Farming, I would fall down cliffs and chase sheep, that’s just who I am.”

Brough paid for an ultrasound and was referred to a sports doctor at EIT Hawke’s Bay, who suggested she undergo an MRI scan.

Biopsy results arrived in April 2023, three months into a six-month family holiday in a caravan around the South Island, and revealed the cancer.

“I was going to lose my leg; they talked about amputation straight away.”

The tumour was already 8cm by 5cm, and the quick-growing lump over her kneecap was not because of her active lifestyle or a sports injury.

Brough said she completed radiation treatment soon after the diagnosis and had an allograft in August 2023, where she was given a donor knee cap, quad tendon and a patella tendon.

Alicia Brough says the journey to her cancer discovery started with leg pains.

In January 2024, she started physiotherapy, where she relearned to bend and straighten her leg.

As part of her recovery, Brough completed scans every three months, which examined her body as the cancer had a chance of appearing in the lymph nodes in her groin and lungs.

At a routine scan at six months in June 2024, Brough had swollen lymph nodes in her groin.

Another scan showed the cancer had shifted and further surgery was needed.

In December, Brough got a clear scan and, believing she was “out of the woods”, the family took a trip to Rarotonga in January, where she and her partner James got married in a surprise beach wedding.

Her health was never far from her mind as she had another scan shortly after she returned.

This time, she didn’t hold high hopes as she could feel the lymph nodes on her left side and was increasingly tired again.

“I’ve nicknamed it ‘scanxiety’,” she said.

Now in stage four of the cancer, she has turned her hopes to the Sanoviv Medical Institute in Mexico and is fundraising to cover the cost of $100,000 for three weeks of treatment.

The facility offers a blend of conventional, alternative and integrative programmes to help maintain good health and treat a wide range of diseases.

Brough said the clinic would treat her whole body and work on diet and utilise hyperbaric oxygen chambers, hypothermia treatments, as well as immunotherapy.

“I have immense hope, I have to ... there is no way I’m giving up yet.”

A Givealittle page has been set up and Brough said she was grateful for any donations but had found it hard to ask for help.

“I just know in my heart this is where I have to go and what I have to do.”

She said her mission now was twofold: to stay alive for as long as she could for her family, and find a way that could help others with the same cancer.

“I want to make a difference for sarcomas, and I really want to find something, whether it is traditional or not traditional.”

Donations for Brough and her mission can be made here.

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and loves sharing stories about farming and rural communities.