Support The Tielmans Through Jakob's Last Moments
Donation protected
This GoFundMe is to help my Mum and Pap during the hardest time of their lives, so that she can afford to pay her rent. Why can’t she afford rent? Pap got the worst news possible on 29th July 2019. After a series of unbearable stomach aches, he was diagnosed with advanced oesophageal cancer that had already spread to his liver. Have a google of “secondary liver cancer” and you’ll understand the nightmare we’ve experienced since then. Prognosis? Terminal cancer.
Anyone who knows Pap knows that he is an eternal optimist. He always sees the humour in any situation and powers through anything. That’s exactly what he’s done since his diagnosis - always joking with the oncology nurses and making other patients laugh. When in hospital, he asks the kitchen staff for a kebab for dinner instead of the standard fish and vegetables... To which they respond with a blank and confused face, to Pap’s joy.
He’s so optimistic, that just after his diagnosis, he would sing a song in the shower everyday - “cancer be gone”. He flooded his body with positive and healing thoughts. He completed 12 out of 12 potential chemo and immunotherapy treatments, the first person to do so and most people barely make it past 10. His tumours shrunk by 60% to the shock of his doctors and specialists. By surviving to Christmas 2019, he had already defied all odds and overcome his grim prognosis.
But after completing his final chemo treatment, he started feeling horrible all over again. The chemo had smashed his immune system and organs, and his body was struggling to keep up. His blood tests showed that the bilirubin and ALP in his liver were coming in at over 300 (normal is under 20). A consequence of this is that has experienced severe jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes), as you can see in the photo. His health has been rapidly declining since then, barely able to walk without extreme exhaustion after 10 steps, and barely able to eat without a disgusting taste in his mouth. He managed to make it to my wedding, only just scraping through being released that morning on special condition. He was back in 3 days later. He’s had over 3L of excess fluid drained from his liver, and some procedures performed on his bile duct. None of these have helped improve his condition.
While on the last day of my honeymoon on Tuesday 10th March, Pap FaceTimed me to officially tell me he has liver failure. Doctors have said there’s nothing further that they can do, and that he’s only got weeks to live. He has now returned home so he can spend this time where he is most at ease - with his family.
To add insult to injury, Pap has been so sick that he hasn’t been able to work. As he owns his own business, this means he has had zero income. Mum quit her job last year to become a full time carer for Pap, so she has no income either. He has a disturbing amount of business debt and personal debt - and not to mention rent, medication, doctor’s bills, and regular daily expenses that they have NO money pay for. Thats right - NONE. Financially, they are in dire straits at an already awful time.
We don’t know what to do. We don’t know how to fix this situation. But we desperately need financial help so at the very least, they can afford to pay rent, buy food, and buy Pap’s medication. People keep asking how they can help - this is it.
This entire situation is heartbreaking and I just want to make it better. This is our plea for help - so please, if you can, help my mum and my Pap relieve some stress in their last moments together by donating money or sharing the story.
The money we have raised is going towards Mum’s (Karen Tielman) current and past bills as she has been behind taking care of Pap, as well as his future funeral expenses and immediate future to follow. We don’t have any assets, and she’s 61 this year. We’re hoping to find her a part time job when this all settles over but we don’t want her to have to rush to do so after dealing with this horrrific situation. Thank you to everyone for your ongoing support. If you do know us and would like to visit Jakob, please reach out very soon before it is too late.
Anyone who knows Pap knows that he is an eternal optimist. He always sees the humour in any situation and powers through anything. That’s exactly what he’s done since his diagnosis - always joking with the oncology nurses and making other patients laugh. When in hospital, he asks the kitchen staff for a kebab for dinner instead of the standard fish and vegetables... To which they respond with a blank and confused face, to Pap’s joy.
He’s so optimistic, that just after his diagnosis, he would sing a song in the shower everyday - “cancer be gone”. He flooded his body with positive and healing thoughts. He completed 12 out of 12 potential chemo and immunotherapy treatments, the first person to do so and most people barely make it past 10. His tumours shrunk by 60% to the shock of his doctors and specialists. By surviving to Christmas 2019, he had already defied all odds and overcome his grim prognosis.
But after completing his final chemo treatment, he started feeling horrible all over again. The chemo had smashed his immune system and organs, and his body was struggling to keep up. His blood tests showed that the bilirubin and ALP in his liver were coming in at over 300 (normal is under 20). A consequence of this is that has experienced severe jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes), as you can see in the photo. His health has been rapidly declining since then, barely able to walk without extreme exhaustion after 10 steps, and barely able to eat without a disgusting taste in his mouth. He managed to make it to my wedding, only just scraping through being released that morning on special condition. He was back in 3 days later. He’s had over 3L of excess fluid drained from his liver, and some procedures performed on his bile duct. None of these have helped improve his condition.
While on the last day of my honeymoon on Tuesday 10th March, Pap FaceTimed me to officially tell me he has liver failure. Doctors have said there’s nothing further that they can do, and that he’s only got weeks to live. He has now returned home so he can spend this time where he is most at ease - with his family.
To add insult to injury, Pap has been so sick that he hasn’t been able to work. As he owns his own business, this means he has had zero income. Mum quit her job last year to become a full time carer for Pap, so she has no income either. He has a disturbing amount of business debt and personal debt - and not to mention rent, medication, doctor’s bills, and regular daily expenses that they have NO money pay for. Thats right - NONE. Financially, they are in dire straits at an already awful time.
We don’t know what to do. We don’t know how to fix this situation. But we desperately need financial help so at the very least, they can afford to pay rent, buy food, and buy Pap’s medication. People keep asking how they can help - this is it.
This entire situation is heartbreaking and I just want to make it better. This is our plea for help - so please, if you can, help my mum and my Pap relieve some stress in their last moments together by donating money or sharing the story.
The money we have raised is going towards Mum’s (Karen Tielman) current and past bills as she has been behind taking care of Pap, as well as his future funeral expenses and immediate future to follow. We don’t have any assets, and she’s 61 this year. We’re hoping to find her a part time job when this all settles over but we don’t want her to have to rush to do so after dealing with this horrrific situation. Thank you to everyone for your ongoing support. If you do know us and would like to visit Jakob, please reach out very soon before it is too late.
Organizer and beneficiary
BRANDON TIELMAN
Organizer
Haymarket NSW
Karen Tielman
Beneficiary
