Reuniting a family in a time of need

UPDATES AVAILABLE BELOW STORY.

Hi, my name is Sandra and I'm trying to raise some money so that my son and I can be reunited with my husband who has been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Two and a half years ago my husband was offered a job in Germany. We were all living in South Africa at the time and decided that emigrating to Germany would be a good move for our family. My husband is an EU citizen and could leave immediately to go to work. My son and I were going to follow in a few months after settling our affairs in South Africa.

Unfortunately, my son was denied a visa as he was entitled to EU citizenship and we needed to apply for that instead. Getting the relevant paperwork from various authorities in South Africa has been a nightmare and has taken us over 2 years to get. The last 6 months has been with the EU authorities waiting for citizenship approval. We have now finally passed all the roadblocks and all that is required is for me to get my visa.

However, due to us living apart for two and a half years and my husband trying to support two households and being unemployed for 6 months, our savings have run dry. We started saving saving up for the last leg of our emigration to get flights, travel insurance, medical and psychological assessments (These have to be no older than 6 months), and medication for my son and myself, for the first few months in Germany.

Unfortunately, last week my husband lost the majority of his eyesight and after numerous tests in hospital it has been found that he has a brain tumor. We therefore want to get to him as soon as possible. He needs our support in this difficult time. We are therefore appealing to anyone who is willing to please contribute towards our fund to help us join up with my husband and to help him fight this problem. He can't do much for himself without his eyesight and he needs us to be with him for emotional support.

The funds received will be used for flights, travel insurance, medical assessments, medication and living expenses for a few months as my husband cannot work without his eyesight and 8 will have to seek employment myself.

We also ask for all the prayers that we can get that he can recover from this.

Thank you!

UPDATE 27 February 2024: Andi will be going in for brain surgery tomorrow to take a biopsy of his tumor. He will go straight to ICU from surgery. I will continue to update as I receive news of his he is doing.

UPDATE 29 February 2024: Andi had his biopsy yesterday. He did very well and there were no complications. He is back in the ward now. He has quite a bit of pain as they had to go through the facial muscles too get to the right place in the brain, had lost more of his sight, and had a bad headache. Pain is being managed with medication and he will be out on cortisone to try and reduce swelling and inflammation and hopefully get some sight back.

The results of the biopsy will only be available later next week and the surgeons are meeting on Thursday evening to discuss the way forward.

Andi will be discharged tomorrow and return to the hospital next week for the results.

Thank you to everyone that has supported us in any way. We have collected enough funds to pay for our flights but still need more to pay for the other expenses. Your generosity is really appreciated.

UPDATE: 14 March 2024

Hello everyone.

Firstly we would like to thank everyone who is walking this journey with us and supporting us in any way they can. We are very grateful to every one of you!

A lot has happened since I last posted an update. Andi is doing okay but his eye sight had deteriorated quite a bit. He is also having a few problems with his hearing now and is shaking at times. He describes this as a shake as if he had Parkinson's disease. His sister and family are taking good care of him for which we are extremely thankful.

Today Andi went to the hospital in Bayreuth to set up his treatment plan. He will be doing radiation and chemotherapy but also a new treatment called TTF. This is described on the internet as follows:

What is TTF in glioblastoma?

Tumour treating fields, also known as TTF or TT Fields, is a relatively new, non-invasive technique for adults with a type of brain tumour called a glioblastoma. A device known as Optune® uses alternating electrical fields to pulse through the scalp and disrupt tumour cell division, or cause cell death.

SOURCE: https://www.thebraintumourcharity.org › ...

Tumour Treating Fields (TTF) or Optune®

Before they start treatment, Andi will need another MRI to evaluate how the tumor had changed since his surgery. They also need to make a mask for him for his radiation treatment so that they protect the healthy cells from damage. His treatment will most likely start next week sometime.

Alex and I have been very busy getting ready to go over over to Andi. Alex had now received his Austrian citizenship certificate and passport. My visa was also approved today and tomorrow we will be going to book our flight tickets, going to fly out next weekend. We really could not have achieved any of this without all your help so thank you again from the bottom of our hearts!

We ask that you continue to pray for Andi and please keep sharing our gofundme link.