A Tauranga woman is staying optimistic in the face of a terminal cancer journey.

After feeling run down and experiencing symptoms such as bloating, Sarena Crane was told she probably had IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) or endometriosis.

Little did Crane know, she had stage four bowel cancer. That was back in September 2023.

An array of tests was done and doctors found a lump. Following an MRI, Crane was sent to a gynaecologist, who revealed there was a tumour in her cervix.

She was then sent to Auckland for more testing and a PET scan. On the drive home, she received a call and was told there was a second tumour in her bowel that they suspected was the primary tumour.

“There was a lot of testing, a lot of back and forth, a lot of confusion of how it had jumped into my cervix, not my liver, my lungs or the usual places,” said Crane.

“Then I got the formal diagnosis in October 2023, that it was stage four bowel cancer.”

The Crane family Christmas photo: Travis, 15, husband Steve, daughter Esmae, 7, Hayden,12, Kristian, 20, Sarena, and dogs Pinot and Maggie. Photo / Supplied

Crane remained optimistic as she headed straight into chemotherapy to try to shrink the tumours so the doctors could operate to remove them.

“I had quite an invasive surgery in March of 2024 to have a hysterectomy. A large portion of my top and lower bowel was removed.

“I was given an ileostomy/colostomy bag temporarily to use and then I ended up back in hospital in May with a bowel obstruction from all the scar tissue that stuck to my organs.”

She was back in hospital for another two weeks to be cut back open and recover, and in the meantime she started chemotherapy again.

Chemotherapy

When asked what chemotherapy is like, Crane said, “I feel like a rat that had been poisoned. That’s when I first got it; that is exactly what it felt like. I was like, ‘This is what it feels like to be poisoned’.”

“I know everybody has different degrees of side effects. I was given a very strong dose and the side effects hit hard and hit fast.”

Crane experienced bad sores down her oesophagus and mouth, preventing her from being able to eat anything hot or cold, and she couldn’t taste anything.

“You can’t touch anything cold because it’s like frostbite in your hands.”

Remaining positive

To remain positive, Crane spends a lot of time manifesting and visualising a future where she’s healthy with her family. She visualised her daughter graduating from school.

She hoped that even though this was not the path she would have chosen for herself, it was a path she was on for a reason.

“I have to take the good and focus on that, not the bad.

“We are lucky every day to wake up and feel good in our body and to be able to move.”

Support

Crane said her husband Steve had always been her rock.

“He is just amazing; he’s more like a caregiver now, the poor thing. I could not have done the journey the way I have without his positivity.”

Crane’s four children, Kristian, Travis, Hayden and Esmae – the oldest 20 and the youngest 7 – are the reason she went into fight mode.

Her boys were hit hard, especially because one of her son’s friends had lost their mum to cancer the year before. “This played heavily on his mind,” she said.

“He would prefer to spend his days with me looking after me after chemo than he would at school.”

She said the whole situation went over her youngest child’s head because she was too young to understand what was going on at first.

Sarena Crane and her daughter, Esmae. Photo / Supplied

“Now, she’s my little caregiver, and on chemo days she’s getting me glasses of water and patting my head and telling me I’m strong.”

The news

In September, her chemotherapy finished. “We got a clear PET scan, so we celebrated, we were in the clear.”

In January, Crane went for a precautionary MRI, which she had to do every three months just to check.

“They found something suspicious in my pelvic area. I went for a PET scan and they confirmed that it was a tumour.

“Unfortunately, it had also jumped over into my bone in my hip; if it’s in your bone, it means it’s travelling through your blood because that’s the only thing that can get into your bone marrow.”

She said this felt like a full-circle moment. “From a medical point of view, they said there is no cure and that all they can give me is controlled chemotherapy to give me more time.”

“At the very beginning, I was told, ‘You’ve got stage four and there’s no stage five'. That was it. It was very blunt. It was to the point and it was a bit of a shock, to be honest.

“When we discovered it was back, those words were the first thing I thought of, but this time I also thought to myself, no, there is more I can do.”

New plan

Crane decided to do some research of her own.

She started integrating alternative methods, including ozone therapy, infrared saunas, ozone saunas and vitamin IVs to support her immune system to cope with the chemo.

She hoped to slow the cancer down, help, or stop it altogether.

She said she refused to accept the diagnosis she had been given.

To that end, she has found a place overseas that may be able to buy her some more substantial time with her family.

Kristian, Steve, Sarena, Hayden, Esmae and Travis Crane. Photo / Supplied

Health centre Hope4Cancer, in Mexico, focused on bio-based medicine and used machines and experimental techniques not available in New Zealand, said Crane.

She said she was aware of the controversies around such clinics and had spoken with people who had been there.

“They are confident to cure or, at the very least, substantially more time. So, I remain hopeful.”

She said her doctor in New Zealand was aware of her plans and supported them.

Crane will be in Mexico for just under a month doing an intensive three-week programme of back-to-back therapies all day, every day.

The cost

This path will cost $150,000 to cover Crane’s return flights to Mexico, her husband being off work to stay in Tauranga and look after the children, their mortgage repayments and any extra medications or treatments.

It would also cover further return flights for Crane because she would need to go back to Mexico after three months for a check-up and more testing.

A friend of Crane’s created a Givealittle page to help raise money so she could get the treatment in Mexico.

To help Sarena go to the Givealittle page.