Please Help Coralie with Paramedical Treatments

UPDATE 02.02.2025

Coralie is recently out of Intensive Care after her second cancer battle, and she desperately needs our help.

This appeal will go towards paying for the following recommended paramedical treatments, that are not available on the national health service, to help her get her life back.

• an essential chair to aid support after so many abdominal surgeries; £130. THANK YOU. This has now been purchased with your help.

• thermal care stay for ongoing pain: around £1,400

• osteopath for posture support after changes to her core: £45 each

• specialised dietician for ongoing digestive issues: £95 each

• essential vitamin supplements for malabsorption: £25 per month

• specially-made adapted insoles: £125

• recommended EMDR therapy for surgery trauma: £65 each x 10

Do something good today. It could make you feel good, too.

A heartfelt thank you so much for giving to this appeal and sharing it with others, it’s very much appreciated.

FIND OUT MORE

Coralie’s scars are worthy of a Cronenberg film, and yet until now, her humour has kept her going in the face of despair.

She’s probably one of the most interesting people I have ever met. I have known Coralie for 30 years and she’s an amazing human – loyal and true, vibrant, sensitive, kind and funny.

Here’s her story.

For anyone who doesn’t want to hear all the frankly quite shocking medical details, I will give you the short version first and then, for those of you (like me) who would like to know more of the medical details, you can choose whether to read the long version.

The Short Version

The short story is that 2 years ago, Coralie, who is now 50, noticed her tummy was getting bigger and when she went to the doctor’s, she was shocked to hear she needed urgent surgery.

The operation was to remove a ‘mass’ from around her tummy. The mass ended up being a 10kg cancerous tumour. To put that into perspective, it’s the equivalent of 3 average sized newborn babies! I saw the photos and it was incredible. She called it ‘Sophie’… as a way to cope with it all.

Her recovery saw her experience two frightening setbacks, one that put her into Intensive Care for several weeks.

And now, it’s come back (‘Sophie 2’ – like a bad horror movie) and she’s facing another surgery.

Since Coralie is on her own, she will need help with simple day to day care after her operation.

Initially just getting up out of a chair is going to be painful. Getting food shopping or taking the bin out will be even more challenging.

She is state-registered as disabled, and cannot work unfortunately.

So, I suggested that if each of us can just chip in to help make her life a little easier, we can all feel that we have done something good today.

The Longer Version

Here’s the more detailed medical history told in her own words:

“In 2022, I had two surgeries due to a huge liposarcoma (10 kg) which have left me with only one kidney.

Some of my colon, duodenum and diaphragm also had to be removed.

Two painful intestinal blockages followed, and I spent a month in Intensive Care.

This winter, thinking I was in remission, I was shocked to find out that another tumour – already measuring 12cm - has developed and that I will need further surgery in January.

I am now facing extreme financial and physical difficulties due to being disabled and I’m sad to say that I now have no one nearby who will support me.

I would love to be able to explore specialist abdominal physiotherapy, psychological therapy, and other alternative medicines, and I will need a decent medical armchair for when I come out of hospital in January.

My dearest wishes are to be here for my children and to find a way to manage my pain and recovery so I can enjoy life again.

My next dearest wishes are a little more unusual… They are to one day, meet or at least speak to the actor, Hugh Grant, whose self-deprecating sense of humour helps to keep my smile from slipping some days.

And, even more off the wall, to meet or speak to the film director, David Cronenberg, in whose films, with my scars, I feel I could now star.

If you can help in any way, I will be forever grateful."

About the Fundraiser

To those of you who have contacted Coralie directly to say you don’t know who I am, let me fill you in.

I made friends with Coralie in the mid-90s when we were 20 and 22 and both lived in London. We spent almost every weekend together for years and a lot of time in between.

We stayed in touch – I remember her son being born as if it was yesterday (it wasn’t!), and eight years ago, she and her children came to stay at my house for a week. Then, last summer, my children and I came to stay with her.

As I am a bowel cancer survivor myself, we had a lot to talk about and both experience lasting issues. Her recent shocking news touched me deeply and I want to help. It’s as simple as that.

Thank you so much for every kind donation and every share of this appeal. It means the world to Coralie and her beloved children.