Looking out for Laura
Donation protected
Laura Grabham is a local lady, mother of 4 young girls and partner to Cody. Laura and Cody are valued members of the community. Their 3 eldest children attend Boggabri Primary School and they all enjoy theirinvolvement with the Boggabri Pony Club.
Sadly, the last 2 years have been tough on this young family, both financially and mentally.
Shortly after the birth of their youngest child, where Laura almost lost her life, Laura had to undergo numerous testing to determine the cause of some severe medical issues she was suffering. She was constantly short of breath, experiencing heart palpitations, loss of consciousness, weight loss and fatigue.
After numerous tests, in March 2018, Laura was diagnosed with an adrenalin secreting mediastinal paraganglioma (tumour). The is a tumour which in Laura’s case is growing behind her heart and around the oesophagus. As soon as it was discovered, Laura was given half a days’ notice to be in Sydney to meet with a team of specialists. Laura underwent thoracotomysurgery days later in an attempt to remove the tumour, however the surgery was unsuccessful. The surgeons discovered the tumour was entangling the oesophagus and growing inside the valve of the heart, and it was simply too dangerous to remove the tumour without risking Laura’s life.
Unfortunately, this meant that Laura has been faced with years of treatment in an attempt to shrink the tumour to enable the surgeons to reassess operating on her to remove the tumour. Following a few weeks of recovery from the surgery, Laura commenced Nuclear Medicine Treatment at Royal North Shore Hospital. This involved trips to Sydney every 6-8 weeks, staying in hospital away from her family. Unfortunately, after almost a year of this treatment, it wasn’t as successful as the specialists had hoped for. This type of tumour is quite a rare tumour which doesn’t have much history of treatment to compare to.
Laura has now started chemotherapy, again at Royal North Shore Hospital, as another option of shrinking the tumour. The chemotherapy is expected to continue for the rest of this year, until the specialists determine the next steps. This also involves having blood tests every second day to monitor her white blood cell count. There are high risks with the chemotherapy on Laura’s heart and therefore is working very closely with the specialist team at Royal North Shore Hospital each day as well as her local GP. She is required to have regular scans and take numerous medications to supress the adrenalin and balance the heart rate. If these are not kept under control, Laura may have a fatal attack at any time.
As a consequence of the adrenalin secreting tumour, the treatments (chemotherapy and nuclear medicine) and medication she takes daily, Laura suffers extreme fatigue, heart palpitations, nauseousness, vertigo, migraines, blurred vision, anxiety and pain from the tumour and thoracotomy surgery. All of this on top of raising her 4 young girls, who are aged only 2, 4, 5 and 7 is extremely difficult.
Laura and her partner, Cody are very family oriented and try to keep home life as normal as possible without impacting the children, which at times is difficult with travelling away for treatment regularly and Laura being unwell at home. Financially, the past 2 years have been particularly tough for Laura and Cody. Cody has been unable to continue to work full-time due to needing to transport Laura to Hospital in Sydney, medical appointments in Tamworth and caring for Laura and their 4 young girls.
Laura and her family are optimistic for a positive outcome. Despite all they have been through already, they know they have a long road ahead of them yet, butare hopeful for their future.
Sadly, the last 2 years have been tough on this young family, both financially and mentally.
Shortly after the birth of their youngest child, where Laura almost lost her life, Laura had to undergo numerous testing to determine the cause of some severe medical issues she was suffering. She was constantly short of breath, experiencing heart palpitations, loss of consciousness, weight loss and fatigue.
After numerous tests, in March 2018, Laura was diagnosed with an adrenalin secreting mediastinal paraganglioma (tumour). The is a tumour which in Laura’s case is growing behind her heart and around the oesophagus. As soon as it was discovered, Laura was given half a days’ notice to be in Sydney to meet with a team of specialists. Laura underwent thoracotomysurgery days later in an attempt to remove the tumour, however the surgery was unsuccessful. The surgeons discovered the tumour was entangling the oesophagus and growing inside the valve of the heart, and it was simply too dangerous to remove the tumour without risking Laura’s life.
Unfortunately, this meant that Laura has been faced with years of treatment in an attempt to shrink the tumour to enable the surgeons to reassess operating on her to remove the tumour. Following a few weeks of recovery from the surgery, Laura commenced Nuclear Medicine Treatment at Royal North Shore Hospital. This involved trips to Sydney every 6-8 weeks, staying in hospital away from her family. Unfortunately, after almost a year of this treatment, it wasn’t as successful as the specialists had hoped for. This type of tumour is quite a rare tumour which doesn’t have much history of treatment to compare to.
Laura has now started chemotherapy, again at Royal North Shore Hospital, as another option of shrinking the tumour. The chemotherapy is expected to continue for the rest of this year, until the specialists determine the next steps. This also involves having blood tests every second day to monitor her white blood cell count. There are high risks with the chemotherapy on Laura’s heart and therefore is working very closely with the specialist team at Royal North Shore Hospital each day as well as her local GP. She is required to have regular scans and take numerous medications to supress the adrenalin and balance the heart rate. If these are not kept under control, Laura may have a fatal attack at any time.
As a consequence of the adrenalin secreting tumour, the treatments (chemotherapy and nuclear medicine) and medication she takes daily, Laura suffers extreme fatigue, heart palpitations, nauseousness, vertigo, migraines, blurred vision, anxiety and pain from the tumour and thoracotomy surgery. All of this on top of raising her 4 young girls, who are aged only 2, 4, 5 and 7 is extremely difficult.
Laura and her partner, Cody are very family oriented and try to keep home life as normal as possible without impacting the children, which at times is difficult with travelling away for treatment regularly and Laura being unwell at home. Financially, the past 2 years have been particularly tough for Laura and Cody. Cody has been unable to continue to work full-time due to needing to transport Laura to Hospital in Sydney, medical appointments in Tamworth and caring for Laura and their 4 young girls.
Laura and her family are optimistic for a positive outcome. Despite all they have been through already, they know they have a long road ahead of them yet, butare hopeful for their future.
Organizer and beneficiary
Bek Duddle
Organizer
Willala NSW
Lauraand Cody
Beneficiary
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