Simon’s Fight

We didn’t want to go down this road, but unfortunately this is where we have landed. 

At the start of this year my beautiful Dad was diagnosed with an extremely rare and aggressive form of Thyroid Cancer,  his second cancer diagnosis, after having been in remission for 5 years following a fight against Bladder Cancer. The past 11 months have been filled with failed chemotherapy, painful radiation, a broken back caused by a tumour, more radiation, super expensive medication that is not on the PBS for this cancer... (huge thank you to Veterans Affairs for helping with this $30k per MONTH ongoing treatment) it has been relentless and exhausting. We were heartbroken to find out the cancer has made its way into his bones.

My dear Dad has kept us all positive and confident that he is going to beat this. He is the strongest person I know. He can’t leave us yet. 

My angel of a Mother has left the job that she adores to care for my Dad at home. She has used all of her carers leave and is no longer being paid. This has put huge financial pressure on my family in a time where we should not be thinking about money. My brother and I have been helping in whatever way we can, but we are running thin. So we are putting our pride aside and asking for any help we can get. 

When Dad got sick he was working on renovating our bathroom, which has been put on hold until we can afford to get it finished. This has become a priority as Dad is having to climb in and out of the bath with a broken back, to use the temporary shower we put in.

We have been exploring alternative treatments which appear to be working, but these come at an even higher cost, and of course are not rebated. Through both Dad’s cancers, both Mum and Dad have had to pull their superannuation in order to keep themselves and their home afloat. The bank suggested we sell the house, so I signed onto the mortgage. We are now running out of options.

My parents have lived selflessly their entire lives, we have never had much and we have been perfectly content with just having each other. They raised us to be really good humans. We we will do anything and everything we can to make this a little easier for them, so here we are asking for any help you can offer. 

Thank you for reading. If you’re not in a position to donate, positive thoughts never go astray ❤️