Chrissy’s Fight 4 Life
Donation protected
Imagine having to watch your baby girl undergo brain surgery at 16 months of age.
Imagine you’re then being told that you also need brain surgery for a condition that is life-threatening - and your children may have to grow up without their mum.

Little Eliza Kelly, 6, and her brother Jack, 8, treasure every moment with their beloved mum Chrissy - but every day could be the last they get to spend with her.
The 34-year-old, who lives at Dundee Beach with Eliza, Jack and their dad Rob, suffers from a cystic brain tumour that can ultimately take her life.
Eight years ago, when Chrissy was pregnant with Jack, she started feeling very sick, but for years doctors couldn’t find the cause.

It wasn’t until the bubbly mother-of-two took matters in her own hands and spent days researching the potential cause of her symptoms. A cause that has now been confirmed by medical professionals: Chrissy has a cyst located on the pineal gland in the centre of her brain.

The cyst is threatening her life - but only one person in Australia is willing and able to carry out an extremely risky surgery to remove the cyst: Australia’s leading neurosurgeon Professor Charlie Teo.
The cyst is compressing the cerebral spinal fluid aqueduct which transfers cerebral fluid to the spine and it is also putting pressure on the tectal plate which is responsible for auditory and visual reflexes.

Symptoms are nausea, insomnia, fatigue, migraines and memory loss - just to name a few.
Chrissy’s cystic brain tumour has changed size in recent years, which is uncommon and puts her at a higher risk as it makes it unpredictable in growth and severaty of compression and a likely chance of mortality.
For the caring mother and her much-loved partner Rob, life as a young new family has been a challenge for years and long-hospital stints are nothing unusual.

When their daughter Eliza was 13 months-old, her parents found her lifeless in bed and resuscitated her three times before a volunteer first aid ambulance took her into Royal Darwin Hospital. An MRI revealed a cerebral cavernous tumour of 2.5cm.

But after two life-saving brain surgeries at 16 months and 3.5 years of age, Izy is doing fine.
“Given it being a genetic brain tumour, I had an MRI five years ago, where doctors found more than 20 cerebral cavernous tumours and the 2cm cystic tumour on pineal gland,” Chrissy said.
A few of them have grown and bled over the past years while the sympthoms of the pineal cystic tumour have been getting stronger which makes it even more important to remove the cyst.

The surgery, done by Professor Charlie Teo in Sydney, is going to cost $110,000 if everything goes well.
With health insurance covering parts of the treatment, the family urgently needs to raise $60,000 for Chrissy to be able to undergo surgery as soon as possible in a bid to save her life.

The family would be forever grateful for any support that will make the coming months easier.
Even the donation of only $1 will help and it’ll all add up to give this loving mum a new lease on life and allow her children to spend more time with their mum.
The hospitality assistant and her family will have to stay close to hospital after surgery for the first two weeks until the staples will be taken out after 10 days, before being allowed to fly home for a two-month recovery. Chrissy will have to return to Sydney for a follow-up appointment eight weeks after surgery.
“I just want to be able to watch my children grow up and I want them to have their mum in their lives, living without all those symptoms,” the 34-year-old said.
“They’ve been through so much already.”

Imagine you’re then being told that you also need brain surgery for a condition that is life-threatening - and your children may have to grow up without their mum.
Little Eliza Kelly, 6, and her brother Jack, 8, treasure every moment with their beloved mum Chrissy - but every day could be the last they get to spend with her.
The 34-year-old, who lives at Dundee Beach with Eliza, Jack and their dad Rob, suffers from a cystic brain tumour that can ultimately take her life.
Eight years ago, when Chrissy was pregnant with Jack, she started feeling very sick, but for years doctors couldn’t find the cause.
It wasn’t until the bubbly mother-of-two took matters in her own hands and spent days researching the potential cause of her symptoms. A cause that has now been confirmed by medical professionals: Chrissy has a cyst located on the pineal gland in the centre of her brain.
The cyst is threatening her life - but only one person in Australia is willing and able to carry out an extremely risky surgery to remove the cyst: Australia’s leading neurosurgeon Professor Charlie Teo.
The cyst is compressing the cerebral spinal fluid aqueduct which transfers cerebral fluid to the spine and it is also putting pressure on the tectal plate which is responsible for auditory and visual reflexes.
Symptoms are nausea, insomnia, fatigue, migraines and memory loss - just to name a few.
Chrissy’s cystic brain tumour has changed size in recent years, which is uncommon and puts her at a higher risk as it makes it unpredictable in growth and severaty of compression and a likely chance of mortality.
For the caring mother and her much-loved partner Rob, life as a young new family has been a challenge for years and long-hospital stints are nothing unusual.
When their daughter Eliza was 13 months-old, her parents found her lifeless in bed and resuscitated her three times before a volunteer first aid ambulance took her into Royal Darwin Hospital. An MRI revealed a cerebral cavernous tumour of 2.5cm.
But after two life-saving brain surgeries at 16 months and 3.5 years of age, Izy is doing fine.
“Given it being a genetic brain tumour, I had an MRI five years ago, where doctors found more than 20 cerebral cavernous tumours and the 2cm cystic tumour on pineal gland,” Chrissy said.
A few of them have grown and bled over the past years while the sympthoms of the pineal cystic tumour have been getting stronger which makes it even more important to remove the cyst.
The surgery, done by Professor Charlie Teo in Sydney, is going to cost $110,000 if everything goes well.
With health insurance covering parts of the treatment, the family urgently needs to raise $60,000 for Chrissy to be able to undergo surgery as soon as possible in a bid to save her life.
The family would be forever grateful for any support that will make the coming months easier.
Even the donation of only $1 will help and it’ll all add up to give this loving mum a new lease on life and allow her children to spend more time with their mum.
The hospitality assistant and her family will have to stay close to hospital after surgery for the first two weeks until the staples will be taken out after 10 days, before being allowed to fly home for a two-month recovery. Chrissy will have to return to Sydney for a follow-up appointment eight weeks after surgery.
“I just want to be able to watch my children grow up and I want them to have their mum in their lives, living without all those symptoms,” the 34-year-old said.
“They’ve been through so much already.”
Organizer
Annie Hesse
Organizer
Auckland