Long recovery after brain surgery
Donation protected
Danielle has a rare disease called ‘Cushing’s Disease’ caused by a brain tumour that only 2 in a million people are diagnosed with per year. She required brain surgery on Thursday, 19 July 2018!
This is Danielle with her husband Dean and her son Elijah:

Danielle first started noticing symptoms of this disease 5 years ago! But unfortunately due to how rare this disease is, and due to falling pregnant not long after her symptoms showed, doctors assumed what she was experiencing was related to having a baby.
Most people would not have heard of Cushing’s Disease so below is a photo summary of the disease to help you understand the stages of what Dani, and other people with this awful disease have endured:

As you can see from above, the symptoms are varied and the list kept growing. She knew something did not feel right and continued to see many different doctors over the years, who gave her different opinions, without helping her improve.
Throughout this time Danielle trained regularly and ate healthy foods (her husband is a qualified personal trainer who has successfully helped many people) but she continued to have muscle wastage, multiple fractures, weight gain, fatigue, hair loss, acne, she was out of character including anxiety, depression and mood changes among other symptoms and none of the programs, diets, or anything she tried improved these symptoms.
Here are some pictures of Danielle over the 5 years, bearing in mind she trained regularly and ate healthy! Never giving up!

As time went on so did the list of issues. Dani had most of the symptoms of Cushing’s Disease, but none of us knew or had even heard of this disease until more fractures started to occur prompting further investigations into bone density, cortisol, etc and puzzle pieces started fitting together once the results came through.
Finally, due to her husband’s research he fit the puzzle together and went to a specialist to confirm. Although it was still a slow process, through many doctors, specialists, etc, they found the tumour responsible for the disease!
You can imagine the mixed emotions of finding out this news! The plus side of her diagnosis is that the tumour is not cancerous, however, not only has it been slowly robbing her body and mind for the last 5 years, it unfortunately will continue to wreak havoc post surgery until her pituitary gland can function once again on its own, taking up to 2 years.
Even ‘Wonder Woman’ needs a helping hand sometimes.

The above photo couldn’t be closer to the truth. Danielle is a Wonder Woman! She has fought hard as a mum to raise a beautiful son through all the pain and challenges she faced! We are proud of how brave and strong she has been through this brutal disease!
Like a lot of families now, they were planning on Dani returning to work after having Eli, she has been unable to and will not be able to return to work for some time, making money very tight. So not only have they lost money from Dani not being able to work, but it has also been an expensive process of diagnosing the disease, petrol for the long distance appointments, time off work, accommodation during surgery, medication post surgery, etc. Also Dean has limited annual leave for time off work due to many days being used supporting Dani with specialist appointments over the last 6 months. He wants to be there for Dani during and after surgery and he will do what it takes but it will come at a cost.
Dean is a very hard worker, he has done everything to support his family, having a full time job and also trying to earn extra money through his side personal training business, meanwhile he is doing this with a painful degenerative knee injury and requires surgery himself.
Due to a number of requests from friends to set up a ‘go fund me’ page we have created this to give the opportunity for all those who would like to contribute the chance to do so.
Everyone needs to catch a break at some point. Easing the financial burden will help Dean to focus on the more important things, the first of which is to help Dani through her recovery.
She is loved by many! We are all doing what we can to help where we can but a little extra support would be so appreciated!
Thank you for taking the time to read this and thank you in advance for your support.
Sending love and gratitude your way
❤️ the family x
NOTE: Dean is proactive in raising awareness of Cushing’s Disease and therefore has written an article about the disease and the reality of the lengthy recovery. I have added the link below for anyone interested in learning more about this disease.
https://naturaladvancement.com.au/2018/06/cushings-disease/
This is Danielle with her husband Dean and her son Elijah:
Danielle first started noticing symptoms of this disease 5 years ago! But unfortunately due to how rare this disease is, and due to falling pregnant not long after her symptoms showed, doctors assumed what she was experiencing was related to having a baby.
Most people would not have heard of Cushing’s Disease so below is a photo summary of the disease to help you understand the stages of what Dani, and other people with this awful disease have endured:
As you can see from above, the symptoms are varied and the list kept growing. She knew something did not feel right and continued to see many different doctors over the years, who gave her different opinions, without helping her improve.
Throughout this time Danielle trained regularly and ate healthy foods (her husband is a qualified personal trainer who has successfully helped many people) but she continued to have muscle wastage, multiple fractures, weight gain, fatigue, hair loss, acne, she was out of character including anxiety, depression and mood changes among other symptoms and none of the programs, diets, or anything she tried improved these symptoms.
Here are some pictures of Danielle over the 5 years, bearing in mind she trained regularly and ate healthy! Never giving up!
As time went on so did the list of issues. Dani had most of the symptoms of Cushing’s Disease, but none of us knew or had even heard of this disease until more fractures started to occur prompting further investigations into bone density, cortisol, etc and puzzle pieces started fitting together once the results came through.
Finally, due to her husband’s research he fit the puzzle together and went to a specialist to confirm. Although it was still a slow process, through many doctors, specialists, etc, they found the tumour responsible for the disease!
You can imagine the mixed emotions of finding out this news! The plus side of her diagnosis is that the tumour is not cancerous, however, not only has it been slowly robbing her body and mind for the last 5 years, it unfortunately will continue to wreak havoc post surgery until her pituitary gland can function once again on its own, taking up to 2 years.
Even ‘Wonder Woman’ needs a helping hand sometimes.
The above photo couldn’t be closer to the truth. Danielle is a Wonder Woman! She has fought hard as a mum to raise a beautiful son through all the pain and challenges she faced! We are proud of how brave and strong she has been through this brutal disease!
Like a lot of families now, they were planning on Dani returning to work after having Eli, she has been unable to and will not be able to return to work for some time, making money very tight. So not only have they lost money from Dani not being able to work, but it has also been an expensive process of diagnosing the disease, petrol for the long distance appointments, time off work, accommodation during surgery, medication post surgery, etc. Also Dean has limited annual leave for time off work due to many days being used supporting Dani with specialist appointments over the last 6 months. He wants to be there for Dani during and after surgery and he will do what it takes but it will come at a cost.
Dean is a very hard worker, he has done everything to support his family, having a full time job and also trying to earn extra money through his side personal training business, meanwhile he is doing this with a painful degenerative knee injury and requires surgery himself.
Due to a number of requests from friends to set up a ‘go fund me’ page we have created this to give the opportunity for all those who would like to contribute the chance to do so.
Everyone needs to catch a break at some point. Easing the financial burden will help Dean to focus on the more important things, the first of which is to help Dani through her recovery.
She is loved by many! We are all doing what we can to help where we can but a little extra support would be so appreciated!
Thank you for taking the time to read this and thank you in advance for your support.
Sending love and gratitude your way
❤️ the family x
NOTE: Dean is proactive in raising awareness of Cushing’s Disease and therefore has written an article about the disease and the reality of the lengthy recovery. I have added the link below for anyone interested in learning more about this disease.
https://naturaladvancement.com.au/2018/06/cushings-disease/
Organizer
TravandLyds Tiver
Organizer
Mountain Creek QLD
