West End star Louise Plowright was forced to unexpectedly leave the cast of Wicked the Musical in London in 2013 when she was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. Sadly this disease is currently untreatable in the UK and so a crowdfunding campaign was launched to raise a whopping £53,000 so that Louise can go abroad and have life saving surgery.
In under a month, the full amount has been raised through the generosity of the theatre community. West End shows have been collecting money after their shows and Mamma Mia producer Judy Cramer also donated a substantial sum (Louise played the role of Donna for three years).
You can check out her Just Giving page here
Here is a little thank you note from Louise for everyone who has supported her fight…
Dearest, wonderful family, friends, well wishers and incredible theatre people!
I wanted to write to you personally (even though my husband is taking dictation) to offer my sincere gratitude for all your amazing support. When I was younger I had a number of occasions when I had to visit my sick mother, father and sister in hospital. I would often pass patients either sitting in the corridors with or pushing iv drip trolleys and I hoped that would never be the case for me. So I set about living what I considered to be a reasonably healthy life.
When I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2013, I knew that the odds would definitely be against me. However I was fortunate enough to receive a life saving operation which put me in remission for a year. In early January, 2015 I started to suffer with digestive problems and after a blood test, CT & PET scan it was confirmed that in the margin site of the operation, in a lung and in the upper intestine the cancer reoccurred. My only option was palliative chemotherapy on the NHS. This was a very devastating news, but rather then be phased by it I drew strength from my daily Buddhist practise and decided to win. My husband and I set about looking for alternatives around the globe and it was most fortunate that Tim Wallers, whom I had worked with in Mamma Mia told of a friend of his, who had been treated by Dr Moon in South Korea and the rest is history.
If you choose to seek treatment abroad it is almost inevitable that it will cost a lot of money.
A day doesn’t go by when I know with absolute certainty that I wouldn’t be here receiving pioneering treatment by a maverick doctor without your supreme generosity. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to each and every one of you.
A special thank you has to go to my friends in Mamma Mia, especially to Judy Craymer.
Love you in the whole wide world
Louise
