Help Fish Explant
Donation protected
We have all been affected by cancer in different ways and personally, I support those who have Cancer, am so very thankful to be with those who have beat it, and those who have lost the Grand Battle, I shall remember and cherish memories of them forever.
Imagine being a young mother and making the hard decision to have prophylactic bilateral mastectomies to reduce your risk of a cancer that killed your mother, at least 5 other direct family members and eventually your sister. The sense of relief that has been lifted off your shoulders knowing your children won't watch their mom battle a horrid disease as you did from a young age. Then as the years progressed, you end up getting more and more ill with no diagnosis as to the possible cause after many appointments with doctors and various tests. Then learning that the surgery you had hoped would save your life is now actually destroying your health to such an extreme, you battle on a daily basis with chronic pain, inflammation, fatigue, depression to name a few. And its also linked to a higher risk of a worse cancer.
I want to introduce you to my sister in law Liza, known as Fish by her family and friends, She needs our help to have surgery in South Africa.
In 2012 when Melanie, my wife and Fish's older sister, was diagnosed as terminal and was given a few months to live we made the decision to return to South Africa to spend time with family and friends with what little time Mel had left.
Fish made the hard choice of resigning from a job she loved to spend time with Mel and help out with taking care of her as she had when their mom was diagnosed terminal and needed assistance even moving back to her parent's property to be on hand as and when it was needed.
Mel managed to spend 5 weeks in South Africa before passing away from the very disease that had taken their mom Esmé and many other family members, and why Fish had chosen to have prophylactic bilateral mastectomies at the age of 32. Little did anyone know, that even though these surgeries had reduced her risk of breast cancer from 85%(Mel and Fish are both BRCA2+) to almost 0, that in the years to come Fish's health would start to deteriorate to such an extreme she ended up in depression after learning the cause, the implants used in her reconstruction.
Fish had her bilateral mastectomies in August 2010, 6 months after Melanie had had her mastectomies and 2 months after their Aunt Gayle (their mom's sister) had hers. I don't think any of them would have thought that, 9 years prior as we all spent the final few moments of Esmé life with her, that one day they'd all have to have surgeries within months of each other to save their lives from this disease that has torn through their family for four generations. There was never any doubt in Fish's mind that this was the only option for her. After watching her mom keep getting breast cancer again and again(even after mastectomies) from the age of 33 till she passed away at 50, and then Mel getting it at 35 and then again at 36 and then Aunt Gayle getting it at 64, Fish made the decision.
As the years went on, Fish started battling with brain fog and being tired. She mentioned it to her doctor who thought she was just to busy with home-schooling her 4 children and managing all their different activities. Fish had chosen to home-school her children after Mel passed away as she wanted to spend more time with them and they could also no longer afford the school fees with only being on one income as she had battled to find employment again.
Between 2016 and 2019, what started out as feeling tired and battling with brain fog, turned into recurrent bladder infections, pain in her breasts, shoulder injuries, various skin issues, heart palpitations, muscle ache and weakness, painful and stiff joints, vision problems, excessive weight gain and eventually deep depression. It was in August 2019 that Fish, during one of her many searches of possible ways to improve her health, came across the words Breast Implant Illness.
Fish at first could not believe it and as she researched more, realizing she “traded” one horrid disease for an illness that put her at risk of an even worse disease, the depression spiralled out of control. Somehow in December 2019 she found the courage to go to her doctor to have blood tests done to make sure that it was not something else that was causing the problems and everything came back fine, further proof she needed to accept what she had.
After spending most of 2020 trying various treatments to see if she could manage the symptoms and not having much success, there was only one answer to the question of what would she need to do to regain not only her health but her life. Fish needed to have the implants removed. The brand she has, she later found out, had been recalled in many countries due to their risk of cancer(the development of anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), an uncommon cancer of the immune system) and that it is not only specific to implants (the condition is now known as breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) but very high for the ones she has.
And this is where we find ourselves. The costs to have them removed and associated treatments is far out of their financial means. They are still paying off medical debt from the initial surgeries 10 years ago. I am hoping to raise over £6500 in order for her to not only have these dangerous and toxic implants removed ( EXPLANT surgery) but any further treatment that she will need to recover from the devastation they have caused in her body. Unlike the incredible NHS here in the UK, in South Africa, there are 2 health care options, private or government. The private(called medical aid) does not cover these surgeries, and neither does the government. Whilst some treatments are covered preventative surgeries like mastectomies without a cancer diagnosis, they are not covered. As Breast Implant Illness is not officially documented it has to be paid for privately too along with medications and treatments.
Fish has always been a busy mom, from doing karate with her older 2 children to the family going on many hikes in the gorge near their home or on camping trips. She has loved the freedom home-schooling has given her family to enjoy their lives together and has been very active in her local homeschooling community, helping many families with any questions they have. It has never been any trouble to assist those that needed it.
To find out more on the symptoms here are some helpful links if you would like to find out more or are indeed experiencing these or know someone who is please share it with them.
BBC Article
FDA Breast Implant Illness
Breast Cancer article on Implant Illness
UK Guidelines on Diagnosis of Breast Implant Illness
Healing Breast Implant Illness
Photos of Fishs Life
Local Press Coverage
Fish You Tube Channel
Thank you all so much for taking the time to read and helping us and most importantly Fish (Liza). Hopefully we can all help get Fish back to living her life.
Imagine being a young mother and making the hard decision to have prophylactic bilateral mastectomies to reduce your risk of a cancer that killed your mother, at least 5 other direct family members and eventually your sister. The sense of relief that has been lifted off your shoulders knowing your children won't watch their mom battle a horrid disease as you did from a young age. Then as the years progressed, you end up getting more and more ill with no diagnosis as to the possible cause after many appointments with doctors and various tests. Then learning that the surgery you had hoped would save your life is now actually destroying your health to such an extreme, you battle on a daily basis with chronic pain, inflammation, fatigue, depression to name a few. And its also linked to a higher risk of a worse cancer.
I want to introduce you to my sister in law Liza, known as Fish by her family and friends, She needs our help to have surgery in South Africa.
In 2012 when Melanie, my wife and Fish's older sister, was diagnosed as terminal and was given a few months to live we made the decision to return to South Africa to spend time with family and friends with what little time Mel had left.
Fish made the hard choice of resigning from a job she loved to spend time with Mel and help out with taking care of her as she had when their mom was diagnosed terminal and needed assistance even moving back to her parent's property to be on hand as and when it was needed.
Mel managed to spend 5 weeks in South Africa before passing away from the very disease that had taken their mom Esmé and many other family members, and why Fish had chosen to have prophylactic bilateral mastectomies at the age of 32. Little did anyone know, that even though these surgeries had reduced her risk of breast cancer from 85%(Mel and Fish are both BRCA2+) to almost 0, that in the years to come Fish's health would start to deteriorate to such an extreme she ended up in depression after learning the cause, the implants used in her reconstruction.
Fish had her bilateral mastectomies in August 2010, 6 months after Melanie had had her mastectomies and 2 months after their Aunt Gayle (their mom's sister) had hers. I don't think any of them would have thought that, 9 years prior as we all spent the final few moments of Esmé life with her, that one day they'd all have to have surgeries within months of each other to save their lives from this disease that has torn through their family for four generations. There was never any doubt in Fish's mind that this was the only option for her. After watching her mom keep getting breast cancer again and again(even after mastectomies) from the age of 33 till she passed away at 50, and then Mel getting it at 35 and then again at 36 and then Aunt Gayle getting it at 64, Fish made the decision.
As the years went on, Fish started battling with brain fog and being tired. She mentioned it to her doctor who thought she was just to busy with home-schooling her 4 children and managing all their different activities. Fish had chosen to home-school her children after Mel passed away as she wanted to spend more time with them and they could also no longer afford the school fees with only being on one income as she had battled to find employment again.
Between 2016 and 2019, what started out as feeling tired and battling with brain fog, turned into recurrent bladder infections, pain in her breasts, shoulder injuries, various skin issues, heart palpitations, muscle ache and weakness, painful and stiff joints, vision problems, excessive weight gain and eventually deep depression. It was in August 2019 that Fish, during one of her many searches of possible ways to improve her health, came across the words Breast Implant Illness.
Fish at first could not believe it and as she researched more, realizing she “traded” one horrid disease for an illness that put her at risk of an even worse disease, the depression spiralled out of control. Somehow in December 2019 she found the courage to go to her doctor to have blood tests done to make sure that it was not something else that was causing the problems and everything came back fine, further proof she needed to accept what she had.
After spending most of 2020 trying various treatments to see if she could manage the symptoms and not having much success, there was only one answer to the question of what would she need to do to regain not only her health but her life. Fish needed to have the implants removed. The brand she has, she later found out, had been recalled in many countries due to their risk of cancer(the development of anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), an uncommon cancer of the immune system) and that it is not only specific to implants (the condition is now known as breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) but very high for the ones she has.
And this is where we find ourselves. The costs to have them removed and associated treatments is far out of their financial means. They are still paying off medical debt from the initial surgeries 10 years ago. I am hoping to raise over £6500 in order for her to not only have these dangerous and toxic implants removed ( EXPLANT surgery) but any further treatment that she will need to recover from the devastation they have caused in her body. Unlike the incredible NHS here in the UK, in South Africa, there are 2 health care options, private or government. The private(called medical aid) does not cover these surgeries, and neither does the government. Whilst some treatments are covered preventative surgeries like mastectomies without a cancer diagnosis, they are not covered. As Breast Implant Illness is not officially documented it has to be paid for privately too along with medications and treatments.
Fish has always been a busy mom, from doing karate with her older 2 children to the family going on many hikes in the gorge near their home or on camping trips. She has loved the freedom home-schooling has given her family to enjoy their lives together and has been very active in her local homeschooling community, helping many families with any questions they have. It has never been any trouble to assist those that needed it.
To find out more on the symptoms here are some helpful links if you would like to find out more or are indeed experiencing these or know someone who is please share it with them.
BBC Article
FDA Breast Implant Illness
Breast Cancer article on Implant Illness
UK Guidelines on Diagnosis of Breast Implant Illness
Healing Breast Implant Illness
Photos of Fishs Life
Local Press Coverage
Fish You Tube Channel
Thank you all so much for taking the time to read and helping us and most importantly Fish (Liza). Hopefully we can all help get Fish back to living her life.
Organizer
John Els
Organizer