Oprah gave a cheque for $250,000 to Australian couple Kristian and Rachel Anderson. Kristian Anderson was diagnosed with liver and bowel cancer about a year ago and the couple have told Winfrey how the illness has devastated their lives and they now have an enormous struggle to pay their bills. This is Kristian's story:
HUGH Jackman has made a cameo in a video that a man undergoing chemotherapy made for his wife.
Sydneysider Kristian Anderson, 35, has been having chemotherapy since he was diagnosed with cancer in October 2009. He made the video for his wife of seven years, Rachel, as a birthday present and a thank you for her support."I'll never give up (so please don't give up on me)," Kristian says in his video, holding up the words written on large white cards as he stands in a room full of lightbulbs. "Without you... Life just doesn't work. I need you like I need a cure for cancer."
The full video features cameos by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key – since Rachel is a Kiwi – and Hugh Jackman, who appeared in the video after Kristian asked Triple M's The Grill Team presenter Gus Worland for help.
"He loves you Rachel ... he loves you," Jackman says in the video, which also features the couple's two young sons Cody, 3, and Jakob, 1.
"(The boys) know Daddy sleeps a lot and Daddy goes to the doctor a lot and Daddy has a lot of pills to take, but they're too little to understand," Rachel told Triple M.
"Our three-year-old, in order to relate to Daddy - he’s sick all the time – (says) ‘I’ve got a sore head like my daddy, my tummy hurts like my daddy’."
Kristian posted the video on his blog, which he set up to keep friends and family posted on his health so his wife would not have to get upset by explaining his symptoms repeatedly.
He was diagnosed with cancer after an overseas trip, although he initially avoided going to the doctor as he thought it was haemorrhoids.
"He even Googled his symptoms," Rachel told Triple M.
"He said 'I think I've got bowel cancer' and I said 'just go to the doctor then!'"
"For months I said go and get it checked out."
Kristian said the doctors first thought he may have had Deep Vein Thrombosis from the flight, but a sign of lesions on his liver led to a full scan. They found cancer all over his liver that had spread from a primary tumour in his bowel.
"Apparently this is a common travel path for bowel cancer," he said.
"If I had got tests done when I first suspected something, I might have only had bowel cancer and they could have just gone straight in and cut it out."
Kristian urged listeners to get medical help no matter how small the problem may be.
"It doesn't matter if it's nothing but the best thing you can do is find out it's nothing."
Triple M's The Grill Team presenters said the video brought them to tears and encouraged their "big boofhead" listeners to go to the doctor.
They also urged listeners to give generously to the Cancer Council, which Kristian - who is self-employed - said helps with his finances as well as cancer research.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/hugh-jackman-nz-pm-star-in-man-with-cancers-video-gift-for-wife/story-e6frfmqi-1225913299891#ixzz184rhOX7W
KRISTIAN ANDERSON'S BLOG PAGE (AND DAYS THAT MATTER - PLEASE READ IT!)
WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW AND GET THE WORD OUT THERE ABOUT CANCER. IF IT DOESN'T MAKE YOU SHED A TEAR, AT THE VERY LEAST IT WILL GIVE YOU GOOSEBUMPS:
http://howthelightgetsin.net/about/
http://howthelightgetsin.net/2010/08/22/days-that-matter/
