Rare brain tumour treatment and recovery for Sara

This year I’ve watched my beautiful twin sister, Sara, endure the most unimaginable year of her life. On her Christmas holiday in Bali, through a period of excruciating headaches and severe vomiting, she found out she had a brain tumour.

She was experiencing life threatening hydrocephalus (cerebrospinal fluid build up in the brain), and emergency neurosurgery had to be performed in a Balinese hospital to insert a shunt into her brain. This alleviated the pressure and allowed her to be immediately evacuated via a medical air ambulance to Perth, where she would undergo a craniotomy.
She miraculously came out of what was a very complicated procedure with no lasting neurological damage/complications. However not all of the tumour was able to be excised and a week later she found out that it was an extremely rare papillary pineal tumour, a grade 3 malignant cancer. There are only around 65 of its kind reported worldwide and each one unique in it's own case.  There was therefore no consensus on what the next step should be. The little literature on these tumours revealed that not all of them had the same behaviour or response to the prescribed treatments...
More surgery, invasive radiotherapy and chemotherapy were offered with little to no assurances of working. As the tumour is located right in the centre of her brain the neurosurgeon explained that there would be guaranteed complications with a second surgery - he was stunned that she came out with none the first time.
Due to the uncertainty of its nature, the Surgeon suggested to wait and monitor it for a few weeks. The cells thankfully remained stable and did not grow, allowing Sara to focus on recovery and healing.
Devastatingly, the second MRI showed the tumour had regrown at an alarming rate a few weeks ago. The surgeon determined immediate and unique treatment : Cyberknife radiation. The wait in the public system was too long for the rate of it’s growth, so we had have it done privately, which comes with added  expense.  Although Medicare is able to cover a portion, she has hit her safety net and all other expenses will put her out of pocket significantly.
Throughout all this, Sara had to leave her job, her flat, her friends and life in Melbourne, as she was evacuated directly to Perth. She has not had an income since before Christmas, and has had extra medical expenses, consultant fees, treatments, medicines and supplements throughout the year, in an attempt to give her the best possible chance at recovery.  After this radiation surgery there will be further consults, scans and MRIs.

I have decided to reach out for financial aid for Sara. The money raised will be used to cover the cost of treatments, recovery periods and the cost of living. This is the stuff of nightmares and any help you could donate would be immensely appreciated!!
With huge amounts of love and gratitude, Anna xo