Our daughter, Maddison is 29 and fighting Stage 4 Thoracic Endometriosis.

For most women with Endometriosis, it stays localised in the pelvic region, but for Maddison, it is a full-body disease, growing outside of the pelvis, slowly damaging her organs and causing daily, debilitating pain.

Her daily reality is far from what most people her age experience. She lives with constant, severe pain, nerve damage, extreme fatigue, and debilitating flare-ups that can leave her unable to walk, stand, or care for herself. During these times, she needs help with basic tasks like getting to the bathroom or showering.

This aggressive form of endometriosis has invaded her chest wall and diaphragm, lesions are eating through her bowels and some are even wrapped around pelvic nerves- and that's just the beginning. After nearly a decade of trying to fight this disease, and already having 5 surgeries, doctors have agreed that she needs an urgent, complex surgery to prevent permanent damage to her bowels.

She is now facing one of the most challenging and critical stages of her journey.

There is only one team in the whole of Australia that are qualified to perform this surgery. It requires an expert endometriosis excision surgeon who can resect around nerves, a colorectal surgeon for bowel resection, and a thoracic surgeon.

This surgery will mean enduring a long 4-6 month recovery, and Maddison will also face other risks such as needing a stoma bag. But this is now her only chance at a better quality of life.

The out-of-pocket cost for this surgery alone is estimated at $25 000, and that is with top private health cover and Medicare rebates. That fee doesn’t even include the many MRIs, CT scans, ultrasounds, specialist appointments, and medications required leading up to it and her long recovery period.

Following surgery, Maddison has been advised to undergo two rounds of egg freezing. Due to the severity of the damage to her ovaries, there is a strong possibility they may need to be removed in the near future. Egg freezing offers a small but important chance to preserve her ability to have children one day, but comes at an additional cost of approximately $16,000.

For the past two years, Maddison has been unable to work due to the severity of her condition. The physical, emotional, and financial toll has been overwhelming.

She is now being forced to leave her home in Hobart, Tasmania, and relocate to Tweed Heads, New South Wales, to live with us, her parents so she can receive the care and support she needs through surgery and recovery.

Maddison has fought incredibly hard to get to this point, but she cannot do this alone.

Any contribution, no matter how small, will go directly towards her life-changing surgery, medical expenses, fertility preservation, and recovery. If you’re unable to donate, sharing this page would mean the world.

Thank you for your kindness, compassion, and support.