Helping our Folks, Battling MND and Breast Cancer.

UPDATE..... Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of everyone, we were able to get our dad a car that is perfect for him. The kindness of our community has absolutely blown us away and we cannot begin to express our deepest gratitude at this time. Unfortunately on top of this heartbreaking diagnosis for our dad, the parents have been dealt a harsh second blow. Our Mum was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Mum will most likely need to be away for up to six weeks for radiation treatment and can only come home on weekends. Travelling home from Perth will be imperative for our parents as time together right now is of the greatest importance. We’re continuing to receive messages from people asking how they can help and where they can donate. We are also aware that Mum’s diagnosis throughout this challenging time wasn’t particularly common knowledge. As such, we’ve decided to leave our go fund me in place for a little longer. Any extra funds that come their way now will be put to good use by enabling mum to travel to-and-from the city for her treatments, without the worry of added financial stress. Again, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Throughout 2020, our dad Neale started noticing weakness in his left hand and arm. Always being a physically fit and strong man, dad found this strange and went to see his GP. This started a long journey of doctors visits, surgery, and many, many tests to explore what was going on. Over time, this weakness began to spread to dads left leg- making balance and walking difficult, exhausting, and at times, dangerous.

We were told that this could be a case of Motor Neurone Disease, a degenerative and terminal illness. Unfortunately in November, this was confirmed after exhausting every other avenue of possibility that could explain dads symptoms. This illness effects the neurone cells ability to deliver the brains message to the muscle, which means that eventually the person will not be able to walk, talk, swallow or breathe. While there is a lot of research occurring in this area, there is still no cure and very limited treatment. Mostly, there is just care.

For now, Dad is still able to walk and talk and do the things he loves, like playing with his 3 grandchildren and gardening at his home in Denmark. However he is finding it more challenging to do things like getting up from a seat, and especially to get out of the car. An MND diagnosis is so unforeseeable, and our parents have a Mazda sedan that is quite low to the ground. We would love to be able to help dad get a higher car that he can get out of more safely and easily, but we need some help. Eventually, the car we are looking at will be able to be modified to accommodate a wheel chair or a mobility scooter.

It is so important for dad to continue getting out and about while he can, and any donation would be so deeply appreciated by our family during this time. We have set a goal of 10k, but anything we achieve here together will be a help!

With love and gratitude,

Chloe, Karlie, Alex & Georgia