We are raising funds to help our amazing friend and colleague Ryan.


IN BRIEF:

Just over 1 year ago Ryan was diagnosed with a brain tumour, the size of a grape in his brain. Following his first brain surgery to perform a biopsy of the tumour, it was determined the tumour is growing. He will need surgery to remove it, possible radiotherapy and many months until he can get back to at least part time work. Ryan’s best chance at preventing a stroke, seizure or death, hinges on this major operation.

Please help us raise the funds to assist Ryan with his anticipated complete loss of income.  We want to ensure he doesn't have financial pressure hanging over his head and can solely concentrate on his recovery & remaining as positive as he can in this time. 


RYAN’S STORY:

In October 2018, Ryan came to work feeling unwell with dizziness/nausea. He went and saw his doctor, mentioning a headache, so his doctor booked him in for a precautionary CT scan.

The CT Scan revealed the news that Ryan had an unknown left Sylvian mass lesion and he was immediately sent to hospital for further investigation. Doctors weren’t exactly sure what it was and told Ryan that the only way to be certain was to have a biopsy.

On the 6th November, Ryan underwent surgery (a pterional craniotomy) that left him with a large scar (with 35 stitches) from above his forehead to his ear. The biopsy revealed that Ryan had a benign meningioma – a tumour that was thankfully, non-cancerous. Unfortunately,  the location of the tumour was quite rare and concerning to his specialists. It is located between the frontal and temporal lobe – the side in which controls all speech, cognitive thinking and motor function – and is nestled among a series of major blood vessels. Due to this location, specialists advised that when he next went into surgery, they would not be able to remove all of the tumour.
Ryan was left with major swelling, took 3 months off work to recover, and begun to learn to live day-to-day knowing he had a brain tumour – dealing with the pain and sensitivity associated with his surgery.
Follow-up scans were booked to monitor the tumour with the eventual goal of seeing him recovered enough to have surgery to remove it. He was booked in for his first scan in January 2019. By his October scan 10 months later, the doctors saw that the tumour had grown by 3mm. The bad news was that the tumour was growing. The good news was that it was a slow growth, which meant he didn’t have to rush into the next major surgery he was anxiously anticipating.

This is just chapter 1, now that the tumour has been correctly located and identified chapter 2 is beginning to unfold. Ryan will be having another craniotomy in around July this year. There is currently only one Neurosurgeon in Adelaide who has performed a similar surgery in this difficult location. His surgery will see a team of around 8-10 neuro specialists aiming to remove 85-90% of the tumour (as mentioned before, the difficult location means the risk is too high for it to be removed in entirety).  Additionally, they will redirect a main artery (the one on your forehead that bulges when you’re stressed!) internally and hook it up with another artery to ensure there is continual blood supply to prevent a stroke/seizure. Once the surgery has been completed, the next stage may involve radiotherapy to stunt the rest of the tumour’s growth.

Ryan will require many months off work – depending on how his recovery goes and if radiotherapy is required this time may vary. When he does eventually return, the plan is to ease back into work part-time and build up to returning to full time work once recovered.

Currently, Ryan and his wonderful partner Tyson are trying to save as much money as they can as they will solely be relying on Tyson’s wage.

Due to the temperamental area in which the tumour sits, if Ryan does not have surgery to remove it, he is at risk of seizures, stroke or death.

It is with humble hearts that we ask you to please donate anything that you can to help Ryan in this tough time so that he does not have financial pressure hanging over his head and can solely concentrate on his recovery & remaining as positive as he can in this time. Aiming for enough to act as an income whilst he’s not working.

At work, Ryan is always the one who will drop anything to help everyone with a smile on his face always. Just trying to do the same for him.

Thank you so much.

Millie Willcox & Mahrukh Rana