Please help our dad pay for his brain surgery.

On the 14th of December 2019 our father Danny was diagnosed with an extremely large brain tumour (1/4 of the size of his brain). As many people know he has forever had a passion for health and fitness and practically lived at the gym. He has always taken care of himself, not smoked nor did he ever drink alcohol. So it came as a shock to us all (as there were never any symptoms) when he momentarily lost function to his legs whilst at work and was also experiencing some numbness to his hands. Danny has never been admitted to hospital for any other reason in his whole life, never had surgery. MRI Scans taken at the Gold Coast University Hospital immediately confirmed the size of the tumour and the urgency of having it removed as this was the cause of his loss of mobility. They mentioned they would be shocked if he survived another 2 weeks without the operation. But if he was still alive to come back in 3 weeks for another scan. Suffering from obvious shock, fear and a sense of confusion, he made the very tough decision not to believe his death sentence given by the doctors and instead take a huge risk and seek a second opinion as the procedure they were offering didn’t seem very promising. They would leave most of the tumour behind with a high chance of complications following the procedure. Meanwhile, we went the holistic approach to reduce and/or halt the tumors growth. During this time we were also trying to get appointments with leading neurosurgeons around the world. 3 weeks past and new scans showed no growth. But since then we have been noticing some more symptoms arising. We managed to get an appointment with the countries top neurosurgeon Professor Charlie Teo from the Sydney Prince of Wales Private Hospital. Upon consultation, Dr. Teo expressed the severity of the situation stating Danny’s brain has reached its “critical mass” point. He is basically a ticking time bomb and he needs this operation NOW as its touching vital areas of the brain, where even a simple cough could potentially kill him. Dr. Teo also expressed his very high concern with the lack of time Danny has. After seeing the scans, Dr. Teo was confident he would be able to remove ALL of the tumour and is also confident Danny will be able to live a healthy life for many more years to come. The private hospital explained the fees and told us that the surgery will cost him $120,000 up front to get the job done, then we would need funds to support his recovery (unfortunately Danny does not have private health insurance). He is unable to work, and therefore is struggling to cover all living expenses even though all of us as a family have exhausted all our funds (including Dannys superannuation) during these 2 months of treatment and seeking the best outcome. This has lead us to reach out to our community, family and friends in the hope that together we can save his life. Unfortunately not only is this urgent due to our dads condition but Dr Teo will also be out of the country working elsewhere for some time from the end of next week. So he has advised us to try and get this operation done before he leaves or it may be too late when he gets back. For those like us wondering why so much money, Dr Teo has actually offered us to do the operation for FREE but that he has to be invited by the Gold Coast University (public) Hospital to perform the operation, we have tried everything to make this happen but the Gold Coast hospital has blocked the opportunity and will not allow Dr Teo to operate for free. Which makes it even more concerning for Danny to go through the public sector. In the Private sector, Dr Teo only receives $8000 of the whole $120,000 that the hospital requires. This whole situation is shocking to us, but it’s the situation we are in and we want our dad alive and of course he wants to live, he is only 62 years old! This is why we are desperate and asking for your help. And we thank you so much in advance for wanting to help save our dad’s life. If anyone is able to make any donation or share this with as many people as possible to help get our dad to surgery as soon as possible. Every little bit will most definitely count and we are forever grateful and truly appreciate your generosity. Warmest regards, Marcelo & Silvana Guerrero (Son and daughter of Danny)