Pike River widow ‘on the up’ after stem cell treatment for cancer – Stuff.co.nz

Pike River widow Anna Osborne is "on the up" and out of hospital in time for Christmas.

Osborne, whose husband Milton died in the 2010 Pike River mine disaster, had stem-cell treatment for Hodgkinlymphoma in October.

She had been told she only had a month to a year to live without it.

Phil Walter/Getty

Anna Osborne, from the Pike River Family Reference Group, embraces Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the mine entrance earlier this year.

Friend and Pike River mother SonyaRockhouse said Osborne's treatment went well, but there was still a long road ahead.

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"I think the treatment is working for now. She just got her bloods done and they were good and they are the most important thing," she said.

Kevin Stent/Stuff

Osborne and Sonya Rockhouse at the announcement the Government would re-enter the Pike River mine.

Osbornewasdiagnosed with Hodgkinlymphoma in 2002 when she was 36.

She had radiation for six weeks and went into remission, but the cancercame back just before the Pike River tragedy in November 2010, when 29 men where killed in a series of explosions at the coal mine. Osborne helped campaign for thelegalisation of medicinal cannabiswhile undergoing chemotherapy in 2015.

Her stem-cells wereharvested and frozenin August. The stem cell transplanttook place in Christchurch in October aftersix days of intensive chemotherapy.

JOANNE CARROLL/Stuff

Anna Osborne, pictured during treatment for Hodgkins lymphoma in 2016.

The treatment had its own risks.

Osborne was in isolation for five weeks but after shereturned home, she hadsome set backs and small complications,Rockhousesaid.

"She was so crook. She lost a lot of weight. She's had two or three trips to hospital since then," she said.

Supplied/Pike River Recovery Agency

Mine worker Bryan Heslip offers a hand to Osborne and Rockhouse after entering the Pike River mine drift during the re-entry operation.

"She's on the up now,but [there is] still a long way to go. She's at home and is getting some colour back in her cheeks, [and is] starting to look like her old self."

Rockhouse said Osborne was focusing on her recovery and hoped to be able to go to the Pike River mine for the next milestone, which was removing the 170m seal expected to take place in January.

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