Glioblastoma - support our fight!
Donation protected
Jackie's daughter Sarah gives us an insight into her mum's fight against Glioblastoma multiforme.
"As the eldest of three siblings, mum's caring nature started early. She was always taking care of someone or something. When she left school, she went to teachers' college, and then began to work with children with disabilities. Through the years mum has spoken fondly of her time spent with these children.
When most of her own children had flown the nest, mum started thinking of what else she wanted to do with her life. She attended university and graduated as an archaeologist. She and dad also trained to be foster carers, and fostered over 80 children over an 18 year period, the most recent being an infant and toddler pair just last year. She nursed her mother, father and mother in law through various illnesses and ailments until their passing, refusing to put them in a facility when she could care for them herself.
Easter Monday this year, mum collapsed with what we initially thought was a stroke. It turned out to be a massive seizure. Following this, several more seizures and a trip to the John Hunter Hospital in an ambulance, a CT scan revealed our worst nightmare. A tumour in her right frontal lobe. The tumour was removed, but pathology revealed it as a Glioblastoma (GBM), which is the worst possible tumour it could have been. Brain cancer, stage 4. Incurable.
Dad can no longer work, as he has become mum's full time carer. Driving her to appointments, treatments, chemists, and taking over the running the household, including the care of their youngest daughter who is just 13.
Mum has always put others first, before herself. Even now she doesn't want to ask for help from others, saying that they will manage somehow. I disagree. We all need your help. And we need it now.
We have this short time to make memories, and unfortunately that costs money. Mum would like to go stay at the beach as she loves the ocean, but finding the funds to do so is hard on all of us.
Going forward, funds will be needed for a wheelchair, petrol to and from appointments, car rego and insurance, health insurance, chemotherapy drugs, more radiation treatments which are at the hospital an hour away and are performed every day for 6 weeks (that's about 200km a day travel, 5x a week), potentially a different surgeon who charges over $30,000 for the operation - depending on where this thing comes back. School and dance fees for their youngest - keeping life as normal for her as possible. She's also still on a range of medication, one of which is increasing her chances of becoming diabetic, which is yet more appointments, medication, specialised eating etc.
Please help us make money one less thing they have to worry about in their fight against this monster."
"As the eldest of three siblings, mum's caring nature started early. She was always taking care of someone or something. When she left school, she went to teachers' college, and then began to work with children with disabilities. Through the years mum has spoken fondly of her time spent with these children.
When most of her own children had flown the nest, mum started thinking of what else she wanted to do with her life. She attended university and graduated as an archaeologist. She and dad also trained to be foster carers, and fostered over 80 children over an 18 year period, the most recent being an infant and toddler pair just last year. She nursed her mother, father and mother in law through various illnesses and ailments until their passing, refusing to put them in a facility when she could care for them herself.
Easter Monday this year, mum collapsed with what we initially thought was a stroke. It turned out to be a massive seizure. Following this, several more seizures and a trip to the John Hunter Hospital in an ambulance, a CT scan revealed our worst nightmare. A tumour in her right frontal lobe. The tumour was removed, but pathology revealed it as a Glioblastoma (GBM), which is the worst possible tumour it could have been. Brain cancer, stage 4. Incurable.
Dad can no longer work, as he has become mum's full time carer. Driving her to appointments, treatments, chemists, and taking over the running the household, including the care of their youngest daughter who is just 13.
Mum has always put others first, before herself. Even now she doesn't want to ask for help from others, saying that they will manage somehow. I disagree. We all need your help. And we need it now.
We have this short time to make memories, and unfortunately that costs money. Mum would like to go stay at the beach as she loves the ocean, but finding the funds to do so is hard on all of us.
Going forward, funds will be needed for a wheelchair, petrol to and from appointments, car rego and insurance, health insurance, chemotherapy drugs, more radiation treatments which are at the hospital an hour away and are performed every day for 6 weeks (that's about 200km a day travel, 5x a week), potentially a different surgeon who charges over $30,000 for the operation - depending on where this thing comes back. School and dance fees for their youngest - keeping life as normal for her as possible. She's also still on a range of medication, one of which is increasing her chances of becoming diabetic, which is yet more appointments, medication, specialised eating etc.
Please help us make money one less thing they have to worry about in their fight against this monster."
Organizer
Sue McKenzie
Organizer
Hawthorn East VIC
