I would like you to meet my parent's Jenny and Terry Leyshan, the two most incredible people in my life that helped me become the person I am today.  My parents are like mine and my wife’s guiding star when it comes to love and marriage. My parents have been together over 39 years and I have seen first hand what love truly is... It's flaws and all... through sickness and in health, till death do us part... That’s the clincher here... My mum has been on again off again with an illness since I was 12 years old and my Dad has been the strength right by her side the entire time... Throughout my up brining they haven’t had much money but they have each other and they motivate me to truly love without limits...

The Background

1997, Mum nearly died from Ulcerated Colitis of the bowel. She was put on a form of chemo for years to help combat the disease. She lost her hair, she lost her immune system, a common flu could have killed her.  This was the beginning of what would become "common" in my life... Something I would never wish upon anyone...

2007, My brother Simon and I paid for my parents and our youngest brother Josh who was 13 at the time to go to Europe on a trip of a lifetime and share experiences with them that we felt they may never have the chance to do in their lives. Mum was extremely over weight at this point and after 6 weeks of European summer heat, loads of walking every day... the flight home, mum collapsed in the bathroom on route to Hong Kong. The plane made an emergency landing into Hong Kong where Mum was rushed to hospital and stayed there for nearly 3 months on life support. DVT or Deep Vein Thrombosis.  My mum had hundreds of tiny blood clots coursing through her body. We nearly lost her then, but she fought through... as she did the last time... The doctors attributed the latest problem to mum's health and weight... so she lost 30kg over the course of a year. 


2010, Mum had another run in with blood clots... This time it wasn't because she was overweight... My poor Dad never really recovered from the last few times mum was sick... It had taken a toll on him as much as it had for my entire family. 

Where are we at now?

So that is where we as a family had a break for a while from these life altering problems... Until a little over a month ago. June 19th 2019, I received a call from my brother in Australia telling me that Dad had been diagnosed with stage 2 Prostate Cancer. It is a very early detection but none the less, the Big C word had finally caught up to my immediate family... My Dad is very fit and healthy and I guess when you hear that C word for the first time you don't want to believe it. My parent's have gone through enough... now my Dad was sick...

26th June 2019... I get a text from Simon asking if i could speak... I was at work and it was probably midnight Australian time and I thought the diagnosis was worse for Dad... But this time, Simon wasn't calling about Dad... This time it was Mum... My mum had lost her sense of taste and smell and one day collapsed while at work so she when to the specialist to get checked and they told her she has a golfball sized tumour on her brain... 

The God's have a funny way of testing people and their resolve... This was the hardest news to hear in my life so far... The operation is extremely high risk due to my mum's medical history. The operation is suppose to be fairly straightforward, however there can be complications and the recovery time could be unpredictable.

The specialist has said there is a 5% chance of major complications during surgery and about a month recovery for a regular person... My mum has been on Warfarin for over 10 years and needs to ween off it during the operation so she doesn't bleed to death. 

Dad's prognosis is a little less stressful, thankfully  apparently if you are going to have ANY cancer as a man.. Prostate is the one to have due to its relatively high success rate of beating it... We have been told so long as Dad doesn't have cancer spots anywhere else in his body he wont need chemo, they will just remove the prostate. 

Dad's operation to remove his prostate has not yet been scheduled, his recovery is expected to be 6-8 weeks. Due to urgency my mum's operation has been pushed forward to August 26th 2019. I am flying home from Canada today July 30th to be with my family and to help them before and after the operation. And plan what we need to do as a family moving forward.

It was hard to find out about Dad... it has been devastating to discover a week later about my Mum. We are staying positive about it all but are just unsure how the future will play out...

So how can you help?

We are not asking for a lot... both my parents wont be able to work during their recover if surgery all goes well for both of them, therefore we need to pay for their living costs. There will be medical gaps we will have to find funds to cover for, recovery assistance, home bills so I am not sure exactly how much we will need so anything will help.

Aside from money, we are open to get any advice on recommended recovery treatments my parents can do that have helped anyone else suffering from these problems and surgeries... any other help, suggestions or well wishes would be really appreciated at this time and from the bottom our our hearts we are eternally grateful to everyone who can help a little, for us it will be a lot and will go a long way.

Thank you for your kind hearts.