Thursday, February 14, 2008

JAN MCLEAN EXHIBITING AT COOLANGATTA DOLL FAIR, AUSTRALIA

Mark your diaries doll collectors, Jan McLean will be exhibiting at the Rotary Club of Coolangatta as part of a one day doll fair on Sunday 27th April 2008. This is a very special fundraising event with all proceeds going towards Children’s Cancer Research in Australia. Jan will be exhibiting her latest collection of fabulous dolls along with showcasing her popular range of funky Lollipop girls fashion. The show will include numerous other doll stalls and related merchandise including spot prizes and raffles. There will also be a Lollipop Girl fashion parade. The event is to be held at the Twin Towers Clubs & Resorts, The Stars Lounge, 7th floor, Wharf Street, Tweed Heads, NSW, Australia (enquiries to 07 5508 2065). This is a great opportunity to combine a fantastic weekend holiday on the beautiful Gold Coast with the opportunity to meet Jan in person and see her fantastic latest collection.

 
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Wednesday, February 13, 2008

FUNDRAISING DINNER & AUCTION – HERCEPTIN FIGHTING FUND – IMPORTANT READ

Fundraiser Auction Dinner the woman going to High Court to challenge PHARMAC and their decision to only fund 9 weeks of a 12 month course of Herceptin drug.

Most of you will be aware of the 8 brave woman taking Pharmac to the High Court. Each has fundraised to pay for their own life-saving Herceptin drug treatment, and now they are fundraising to pay legal fees which could, at a later date, benefit a member of your family or friend if they get HER2+ breast cancer. Pharmac only approves a 9 week course of Herceptin when the International standard is 12 months. New Zealand women’s value is relegated to the third world! Pharmac seem to think it is fiscal prudence to limit life-saving medicine when the social and fiscal costs of motherless families are huge, because HER2+ cancer usually affects young women.
The fundraiser dinner will take place on 23rd February 2008 at the Crowne Plaza, 128 Albert Street, Auckland from 7pm – 11Pm. Jool Topp, of the Topp Twins will be the MC and auctioneer and The Beat Girls are providing the entertainment.
Tickets are $150.00 each and include a buffet dinner & complimentary wine/juice.
Tickets available from The Women’s bookshop, 105 Ponsonby Road, Auckland or contact 021 528 878.

This event looks to be a great night as I have personally attended one of the Beat Girl’s evening and WOW it was a blast. Those girls can sing and have such energy on stage; you’ll be up on the dance floor for sure. Come and share a fabulous night and support these most deserving women. And if you can, please circulate the flyer. Some items for auction are a Jan McLean original doll and 2 paintings by Lance O’Gorman plus many other items.  

This week 8 brave women, Christine Walsh, Diane Edwards, Amanda Rudd, Diane McCormack, Mangalika Mendis, Judith Ridout, Lois Blair, Annette Wikeepa who missed out on the funding for part or all of their breast cancer treatment are fighting PHARMAC in High Court to have the decision reversed and to explain why they will not fund treatment in NZ.
The fight is for the future of the treatment of NZ women with HER2 positive breast cancer.


Proceeds from the fundraiser auction dinner are going towards the legal fees  for 8 women going to the High court in Wellington on 11th February 2008, challenging PHARMACS decision not to fund 12 months of Herceptin for NZ women with HER2 positive breast cancer. The 8 women have funded the $100,000 for their own 12 month course of Herceptin and believe that other NZ women should not have to pay for this standard treatment to increase their chances of surviving this deadly form of breast cancer. 

As some of you may know by speaking to Jan and reading our blog page on www.janmcleandolls.com, Jan has actively been supporting the fight against breast cancer for women in New Zealand and also supporting the fight for the Herceptin drug for NZ woman with HER2 positive breast cancer. When Jan was in Christchurch last year , she read in the local paper about a woman needing the 12month treatment drug – Herceptin – but who could only get the government funded 9 week course of Herceptin. She would have to self-fund for the remainder of the 12month course. 
Twenty-four other OECD countries now fund the proven and recommended Herceptin treatment regime of 12 months. Oncologiests recommend. However the GOVERNMENT funded agency PHARMAC will only fund the drug Herceptin for nine weeks. Therefore women have to fund-raise to pay for as many treatments as they can afford. At a cost of $90,000 – $190,000.
After Jan read this article she just knew she had to do something to help these women. Jan has since donated a number of her dolls on the New Zealand Trade Me auction website with all proceeds going towards helping the breast cancer sufferer and also the Herceptin Fight Fund. Jan also hosted a Pink Tea Party auction night in Dunedin for the Breast Cancer society. This was a huge success raising $15,000 for breast cancer society. Jan was approached by Chris Walsh from Herceptin Fight Fund about donating a doll for their auction night fundraiser (please see flyer attached) and Jan was more than happy to oblige by donating one of her stunning dolls to be auctioned. 

Your support will help to get the 12 months treatment that all oncologists are recommending and 24 other OECD countries already fully fund.

See www.breastcancer.org.nz for more information about Herceptin and the Judicial Review.
You can read other newspaper articles about Jan’s support for breast cancer and the Herceptin Fight in our previous blog posts.

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Saturday, February 9, 2008

THIEVES ALLEY MARKET DAY – Dunedin

Thousands of people thronged to the Otagon in Dunedin on Saturday 9th February for the opening of our 19th Annual Thieves Alley Market Day. Added to the  bumper crowds were passengers from 2 cruise ships and Master Games competitors.
 There were 250 stalls plus entertainment surrounding the Octagon and streets.
We had a stall down Bath Street selling our Lollipopgirl dolls and their fashion plus our Lollipopgirl cotton/lycra tshirts and our new awesome funky colour merino tshirts.
People were crowding our stall all day as we were also offering children to be “lollipop’d or Fuzu’d”  – this meant that they could get their hair styled and hairsprayed funky colours of pink, blue, green, yellow and orange.
The market opened at 10am and we finished our last hairstyle at 4pm! WOW! It was great to see all the children queuing up to get their hairs done and even some mums’ got in on the fun and got their hair done.

We had a fantastic time talking to all the locals and foreigners. Two sister who were Jan’s grand-daughter, Alani McLean, was there to model one of our Merino tshirts and give a helping hand.

Our local newspaper was there to capture some images from the day and took this great shot of 2 sisters after they were “Lollipop’d”.
 

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