Helping Katie Rose
Gordonton artist Katie Rose Clausen is fundraising to pay for cancer treatment. Her goal is to raise $50,000 and since March she has raised $18,610.45.
The 21-year-old tells her story to the Waikato Times.
Growing up Katie Rose Clausen was always a little different.
Clausen, who is from Waikato, never stepped foot inside a classroom.
Severe learning difficulties meant her parents kept her at home. She studied through correspondence.
She has been drawing since young, and began selling her art as a teenager. This year she was studying Fashion Design and Business at AUT University when, she says, she hit a roadblock.
Katie was diagnosed with Stage 3A Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma last Christmas Eve.
Six rounds of chemotherapy later and she has been told there are no active cancer cells. But it will be 10 years before she is in full remission.
Clausen will undergo eight rounds of Rituximab over two years in an attempt to ensure it does not return. It will cost $50,000.
Rituximab is not government funded for this type of treatment, she is fundraising to pay for it.
Her bout with cancer forced her to focus her time.Before, she was dead set on finding an office job but that has changed.
“I guess I realised I was compromising. As my time is limited, then I want to do what will make me most happy.”
From her Givealittle page, she says it was a shock to be diagnosed with Lymphoma. “… which I had never heard of before, let alone to hear the doctor say it could potentially take my life.”
Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma is a cancer that starts in cells called lymphocytes, which are part of the body’s immune system. Lymphocytes are in the lymph nodes and other lymphoid tissues (such as the spleen and bone marrow).
“I started this Givealittle page because any little bit would help me and my family through this trying financial time and any little amount of money donated would be more than a blessing and half.”
Visit her Givealittle fundraiser page here.
Read the full story in the Waikato Times here.
Hi Katie!
We just wanted to let you know that you are more than welcome at The Mandarin Tree to showcase your art! We would like to support you and would love to discuss the possibility of an exhibition here to help you in reaching your goal!
Warm regards,
Claudia (The Mandarin Tree)
That’s wonderful Claudia, many thanks!