Hello everyone,

Our family wanted to raise some awareness and support for my beautiful sister-in-law Carly and her family, Fraser and Willow. At 19 weeks pregnant with her first child, Carly experienced a focal seizure. This was completely out of the blue and shocking to say the least. She was taken to hospital and an MRI brain discovered a lesion in her right parietal lobe. As Carly was pregnant, there were not any invasive testing options available so she was placed on anti-seizure medications and asked to wait until delivery as the lesion at that time appeared stable.

Her symptoms began to develop at 30 weeks pregnant including auditory hallucinations and persistent seizures. She was advised by a team of specialists to deliver the baby early at 32 weeks gestation to enable more invasive testing for Carly. Willow was delivered a healthy pre-term baby at 32 weeks and 1 day and after several weeks in the NICU she is home and thriving. The day after Willow was delivered Carly had an MRI brain scan with contrast which showed an aggressive high grade glioma.

A brain biopsy shortly after the MRI gave Carly the devastating news that her brain tumour was a grade 4 aggressive glioblastoma with a prognosis of 12-14 months. The news has obviously devastated Carly and Fraser, as new parents this is the last thing anyone could ever expect. As a family they remain hopeful by overhauling their diets, adding supplements and getting second opinions regarding surgery and alternative treatment options. In the interim the plan is to start chemotherapy and radiation which will be daily for six weeks. Carly is left unable to drive secondary to her seizures and they live about a 40 minute drive from where she will be having daily radiation.

Carly and Fraser are devoted parents who would never normally ask for help; however the gruelling nature of intensive treatment with Carly unable to drive, a newborn baby and limited paternity leave for Fraser is causing extra unnecessary stress. Any support to help ease financial burden, allow Fraser a few extra months off work to support Carly and Willow, allow them to fully explore second opinions, interstate or international, will be incredibly appreciated and generous. They have decided to bring forward their wedding to celebrate with their closest family and friends and we believe they should experience the most magical wedding day without any added stress.

We thank everyone for their continued support and love and are remaining positive and optimistic going forward.

Thank you,

Carly, Fraser and Willow’s families.