Nicoles battle with bone cancer
Donation protected
Nicole is 34 year old and mother to 2y/o daughter Polly-Anna and wife to Manos. She resides in Peregian Springs.
1 year ago Nicole lived with her Greek husband and daughter Polly-Anna in Rhodes, Greece. Her life was just beginning with her new baby and husband. She was experiencing bad back pain and following tests was diagnosed with having a large tumour on her upper spine. She was told it was benign and that she would need to travel to the island of Crete to have delicate surgery.
On the day of her scheduled surgery the surgeon told her he couldn’t do it due to lack of the correct equipment. Nicole was absolutely devastated and in a lot of pain with nowhere to turn as the equipment required was very specialised.
Nicole’s Auntie made contact with my daughter’s boss who is Head of Palliative Care at the Royal Brisbane Hospital for some advice. He was very quick to respond and asked for all her information to be sent to him ASAP. This we did. As Nicole is an Australian Citizen he urged her to return to Australia for the surgery and was not confident that the tumor was benign.
Nicole, Mano and Polly-Anna all came to Australia for the surgery. They had no time to pack their house or belongings and no money to set up a life in Australia while Nicole underwent this massive ordeal. Due to this we held a GOFUNDME fundraiser and fortunately raised $25K to help towards living expenses for the following months.
Nicole underwent 12 hours of grueling surgery to wake up minus 2 vertebrae, 2 ribs and a massive zipper like scar down her spine. The prognosis was not great…she had a rare Chondrosarcoma cancer on her spine and it had wrapped itself around her aorta, this they could not remove and hoped that radiotherapy would be the best option to attack the nasty remains of the tumor.
They could not begin radiotherapy until Nicole had healed from her surgery because there was too much scar tissue to be precise with the procedure. Whilst waiting for this treatment Nicole started to get a lot of pain in her back once again. Upon inspection her physician saw that the tumor had grown back very quickly and they again urgently had to open her up to operate to remove it. Still not getting it all.
Finally radiotherapy started and completed sadly with unsuccessful results. Nicole now has Stage 2 secondary cancer in her lungs. She and the family are all gutted.
Fortunately there is still hope for this young mum! There is a treatment that may save her but this treatment is not subsidised by the government and she will need to travel to America to receive it. It will cost approx. $100,000 (including expenses).
As we have no time to waste we really need help to raise money for Nicole to receive this lifesaving treatment. We would be so extremely grateful for any donation large or small…it all adds up and can make a BIG difference to this beautiful young girl.
Thank you so very much.
1 year ago Nicole lived with her Greek husband and daughter Polly-Anna in Rhodes, Greece. Her life was just beginning with her new baby and husband. She was experiencing bad back pain and following tests was diagnosed with having a large tumour on her upper spine. She was told it was benign and that she would need to travel to the island of Crete to have delicate surgery.
On the day of her scheduled surgery the surgeon told her he couldn’t do it due to lack of the correct equipment. Nicole was absolutely devastated and in a lot of pain with nowhere to turn as the equipment required was very specialised.
Nicole’s Auntie made contact with my daughter’s boss who is Head of Palliative Care at the Royal Brisbane Hospital for some advice. He was very quick to respond and asked for all her information to be sent to him ASAP. This we did. As Nicole is an Australian Citizen he urged her to return to Australia for the surgery and was not confident that the tumor was benign.
Nicole, Mano and Polly-Anna all came to Australia for the surgery. They had no time to pack their house or belongings and no money to set up a life in Australia while Nicole underwent this massive ordeal. Due to this we held a GOFUNDME fundraiser and fortunately raised $25K to help towards living expenses for the following months.
Nicole underwent 12 hours of grueling surgery to wake up minus 2 vertebrae, 2 ribs and a massive zipper like scar down her spine. The prognosis was not great…she had a rare Chondrosarcoma cancer on her spine and it had wrapped itself around her aorta, this they could not remove and hoped that radiotherapy would be the best option to attack the nasty remains of the tumor.
They could not begin radiotherapy until Nicole had healed from her surgery because there was too much scar tissue to be precise with the procedure. Whilst waiting for this treatment Nicole started to get a lot of pain in her back once again. Upon inspection her physician saw that the tumor had grown back very quickly and they again urgently had to open her up to operate to remove it. Still not getting it all.
Finally radiotherapy started and completed sadly with unsuccessful results. Nicole now has Stage 2 secondary cancer in her lungs. She and the family are all gutted.
Fortunately there is still hope for this young mum! There is a treatment that may save her but this treatment is not subsidised by the government and she will need to travel to America to receive it. It will cost approx. $100,000 (including expenses).
As we have no time to waste we really need help to raise money for Nicole to receive this lifesaving treatment. We would be so extremely grateful for any donation large or small…it all adds up and can make a BIG difference to this beautiful young girl.
Thank you so very much.
Organizer
Nicole Tsesmetzis Mitsaki
Organizer
Peregian Springs QLD
