Help Nicole to be able to pay for her next surgery

Hi my name is Kylee, I am raising money for a dear friend Nicole Dixon to help pay for her 5th operation so she can try to get back to more of a normal life again.

After much arm twisting, we have permission to tell Nicole’s Story.

Nicole is 52 and a proud mum of 4 daughters who she has raised as a single mum for the past 18 years. She is a high school teacher of 30 years and we believe she was born to teach young people.

Nicole is a much loved mum to her girls and a loyal and caring friend to those who have come into her life. She was a funny, outgoing, fit individual & always the life of the party until her (and our) world was turned upside down in October 2022.

In September 2022, she was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma (a brain tumor on her hearing nerve). This was removed after a 10 hour operation, and she has never been the same.

She awoke in ICU, hemorrhaging and completely paralysed on her left side.

She was told a stroke did not cause the paralysis, the doctor admitted to just being a ‘little heavy handed’ during surgery. 5 months later, and not much improvement. The doctor changed his mind about this initial statement, she did in fact have a stroke whilst on the operating table. Eventually she also discovered she had severe nerve damage from the operation.

This nerve damage left her unable to walk, speak properly, feed herself or do basic activities we all take for granted. She lost not only her balance, but all of her confidence as well.

Nicole was told ‘she was young’ and would recover from this surgery after a 5 day stay in hospital. After 5 days, she was leaking a great deal of brain fluid and needed another operation to ‘stitch her up’. And a further 5 days later she needed a lumbar puncture as she was still leaking brain fluid. This significant complication left her in constant excruciating pain, vomiting and she developed meningitis, despite the doctor assuring her she did not have.

Nicole’s 5 day stay in hospital turned into 32 days.

She suffered mentally as well as physically and opted not to have visitors outside her immediate family.

She followed the doctor’s advice after hospital but could not afford the physiotherapy to help. She needed to get back to work as she had no more sick leave or savings left, and this is when and where she taught herself to walk and talk again. Nicole’s nerve damage also meant she was unable to see properly or drive a car, so she relied on her daughters to drive her everywhere including to and from school to teach.

She gained strength and much respect and admiration of her colleagues as well as her students but the nerve damage left her with facial palsy.

She needed another operation in June 2023 to try and regain feeling in her face as well as a weight inserted in her eyelid so her left eye could close. The difficulties and pain with her eye and the ability to see clearly remains her biggest challenge. She is unable to be outside for long, she cannot function when it is windy or handle glaring sun. She struggles when fans or air conditioning are on and must add drops and gel to her eye often. She must now always consider where she goes, where she sits and for how long, this impacts her mentally as well as physically, and she typically chooses not to go anywhere anymore.

Because this surgery in June was considered ‘elective’ reconstruction, she had significant out of pocket expenses.

Her savings were depleted and she had to borrow to pay for it. To top it off, the surgery was not as successful as we all would have hoped.

Her eye remains her biggest challenge and the facial palsy is still evident.

Nicole’s quality of life in every sense has been impacted by this brain surgery. She was once a charismatic and integral part of her family, her classroom and her friendship groups. And it is clear to everyone she is unable to live a life she once enjoyed. She does not want anyone’s pity, she tried desperately to recover from this without fuss and without telling people the horrific chain of events. Anyone who knows her, knows how proud she is.

I am telling her story and asking for donations to help her fund another surgery in early 2024, which aims to reconstruct her cheek so she can smile for the first time in over a year, as well as eat and speak more clearly (to ultimately allow her to do her job better).

She is a shell of the person she once was, and whilst she was aware she’d lose hearing in one ear initially, there was no indication that her whole world would never be the same again.

She needs and wants to continue teaching but this is now physically difficult. She needs and wants to regain her life, her confidence and her mental wellbeing, as this turn of events has robbed her of a great deal.

I hope you can help us help Nicole with the expenses she is about to face with this next surgery.

She may have run out of money, but she has not run out of hope.

Any donation will be greatly appreciated to enable Nicole to be able to afford this next operation in February.

Thank you

Kylee Sinclair