Help Leah through treatment for her brain tumour

Hi, my name is Leah and this is my story. I am a single parent to three kids. I’m doing my best to care for them while holding down a full-time job and going through the long and arduous process of treatment for a brain tumour. The side effects from the tumour are compounding my existing chronic illnesses, reducing my mobility and capacity even further.

Normally I’m an extremely capable and independent person, and I wouldn’t usually ask for this kind of help. Unfortunately throughout the last 6 months I’ve exhausted all of my savings, sick leave and annual leave. I no longer have any safety net to fall back on.

I'm hoping that this fundraiser can alleviate some of the financial pressure on myself and help shield my children from this additional stress on top of watching me go through treatment.

There is no guarantee that radiation treatment will work to shrink the mass. Even if I'm lucky and the mass shrinks or stops growing, there is still a risk that it could grow back. Side effects of radiation treatment include an increased risk of developing cataracts at a younger age; new tumour growths inside my brain, bone or surrounding structures; burns to my brain and surrounding tissues, or partial loss of vision.

My medical journey:

In early August of 2022, I received a call from the ocular specialist investigating my gradual vision changes. My MRI showed that I have a brain tumour.

The mass is the size of a large grape (14.9mm x 13.8mm x 16.3mm) and is wrapped around both my right optic nerve and corotted artery, making it inoperable.

I had my endoscopic transnasal transsphenoidal biopsy surgery at the end of November 2022 with a combined ENT and Endoscopic Neurosurgical team. Due to the location of the tumour, the surgical team had a hard time accessing the mass. I spent 10 days in the Neurosurgery ICU recovering and I was unable to drive for 2 months. I still experience headaches and dizziness caused by the biopsy access point in my sinus.

After a nail-biting 3 weeks, I received the news that there was enough of a sample to confirm the tumour as a Menengioma, a slow-growing tumour in the lining of the brain. Unfortunately, they were unable to grade the tumour. The plan is for me to receive treatment protocol for a Grade 3 tumour the most aggressive form.

Even though this type of tumour is classified as “benign”, since it typically doesn’t metastasise, they have been known cause death.

The tumour affects my vision, balance, and concentration; and since it’s pushing against my pituitary gland, has caused 30kgs of weight gain over the last 12 months.

The extra weight is causing me additional mobility issues as it flares my existing chronic illnesses. The pressure on the nerve is also causing numbness in my face and painful eye mobility issues.

This week I had my planning meeting to create the mask to fix me to the table of the treatment machine during each radiation session.

Beginning 1st March I will receive daily doses (Mon-Fri) for 6 weeks. That's 30 sessions all up.

Stats for those playing along at home (Jul 22-Feb 23):

MRI: 4

CT: 4

PET CT: 1

X-ray: 1

Mammogram/Ultrasound to follow up mass found in PET CT: 1

Specialists doctors: 9

Specialists bills: $1,800.00

Days spent in hospital: 10

Emergency department trips: 1

Times I got Covid from the emergency department: 1

Time off work: at least 3 months so far, with half a day for each session to come.

Cost to move house to be closer to kid's schools: over $4,000.00

If you've made it this far, I appreciate your time :)