Dave and Nicole Gallacher
Donation protected
As we all know Dave and Nicole have had a tough couple of months.
This is their story as written by Dave on Facebook on 20th April:
"Dear Friends,
For those who have not been aware, on March 19, my beautiful wife Nicole collapsed at home alone, with a bleed on her brain. Before her fall, she managed to get a call off to her parents who rang 000. Two ambulances were sent to our house and four paramedics broke in to get to Nicole.
She was rushed to the Austin hospital where she went straight into theatre for emergency surgery on her brain. The surgery went for over 8 hours. Nicole’s lungs and heart were not working properly and the doctors needed to do everything that they could to save Nicole’s life. In order for the doctors to save Nicole, our baby had to be delivered. At 22 weeks, our gorgeous baby boy, Ned Roland Gallacher, went straight up to heaven.
Nicole spent the next couple of weeks in ICU on life support. Things were not looking good but she fought hard and showed some miraculous improvement, which has absolutely amazed all of the doctors and nurses in the ICU and the neuro ward. She moved from ICU to the neuro ward where she was working on getting some speech and movement back.
Nicole then had to have a very complicated procedure on her brain last Tuesday, followed by further surgery on her brain last Wednesday. This surgery was to cut the abnormal mass out of her brain and a series of very serious and scary risks associated with the Tuesday procedure and Wednesday surgery was explained to us.
Both the procedure and the surgery were a great success. Nicole fought hard and pulled through once again. She then spent a few more days in ICU before moving back to the neuro ward, where she is currently.
She is now working on her speech, swallowing, and getting some movement back. In technical terms, Nicole suffered a stroke and has a long road of rehab and recovery ahead. The team at the Austin will work with her over the coming weeks to try and get her strong enough to then transfer to a rehabilitation facility.
Before I finish this post, although my words will not do justice, I just want to say how brilliant, amazing and incredible the nurses and doctors are in the ICU at the Austin. They are absolute bloody angels and are worth a hell of a lot more than their weight in gold.
Similarly, the emergency team, who kept her with us on that very first night, and the doctors and nurses who have been looking after her in the neuro ward. Also, the neurosurgeons, who managed to cut the entire malformation out of Nicole’s brain in a marathon surgery that took the entire day on Wednesday.
These are absolutely incredible people and we will be forever in their debt.
It is far from over for Nicole. We have a long road of rehab ahead of us which is going to take a long time but we are so lucky with the love and support that we have around us."
Nicole has now been in the rehabilitation hospital for over two months and will still be in there for a substantial amount of time.
We can't even begin to imagine the stress they would be under right now and know that they have many more challenges to overcome in the coming months. Dave is spending most of his time between work and the hospital at the moment. Nicole will be needing specialised equipment and support when she is discharged and they still have their everyday expenses to take into account. So we thought it might be of great help to them if we (family and friends) could help relieve some of their financial burden. You can put in $2, $10, $50, $1000 as much as you can at the moment to help these two amazing individuals. Anything will be appreciated no matter how little.
All funds raised will go towards supporting Dave and Nicole with the financial burdens they currently face and will encounter in the future. Nicole will be unable to work for the foreseeable future. Modifications will need to be made to their house to enable Nicole to return home. Once Nicole is able to return home she will need ongoing therapy from a range of specialists including physiotherapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy. Any money raised will go towards these things as well as supporting Dave and Nicole to meet mortgage repayments, bills etc
P.S:
We know that not everyone can help financially so if you would like to donate some of your time instead that would be of great help too. There are plenty of jobs to be done like gardening and cooking. If you think you can help in this way shoot us an email or facebook message so that we can liaise with Dave's family.
This is their story as written by Dave on Facebook on 20th April:
"Dear Friends,
For those who have not been aware, on March 19, my beautiful wife Nicole collapsed at home alone, with a bleed on her brain. Before her fall, she managed to get a call off to her parents who rang 000. Two ambulances were sent to our house and four paramedics broke in to get to Nicole.
She was rushed to the Austin hospital where she went straight into theatre for emergency surgery on her brain. The surgery went for over 8 hours. Nicole’s lungs and heart were not working properly and the doctors needed to do everything that they could to save Nicole’s life. In order for the doctors to save Nicole, our baby had to be delivered. At 22 weeks, our gorgeous baby boy, Ned Roland Gallacher, went straight up to heaven.
Nicole spent the next couple of weeks in ICU on life support. Things were not looking good but she fought hard and showed some miraculous improvement, which has absolutely amazed all of the doctors and nurses in the ICU and the neuro ward. She moved from ICU to the neuro ward where she was working on getting some speech and movement back.
Nicole then had to have a very complicated procedure on her brain last Tuesday, followed by further surgery on her brain last Wednesday. This surgery was to cut the abnormal mass out of her brain and a series of very serious and scary risks associated with the Tuesday procedure and Wednesday surgery was explained to us.
Both the procedure and the surgery were a great success. Nicole fought hard and pulled through once again. She then spent a few more days in ICU before moving back to the neuro ward, where she is currently.
She is now working on her speech, swallowing, and getting some movement back. In technical terms, Nicole suffered a stroke and has a long road of rehab and recovery ahead. The team at the Austin will work with her over the coming weeks to try and get her strong enough to then transfer to a rehabilitation facility.
Before I finish this post, although my words will not do justice, I just want to say how brilliant, amazing and incredible the nurses and doctors are in the ICU at the Austin. They are absolute bloody angels and are worth a hell of a lot more than their weight in gold.
Similarly, the emergency team, who kept her with us on that very first night, and the doctors and nurses who have been looking after her in the neuro ward. Also, the neurosurgeons, who managed to cut the entire malformation out of Nicole’s brain in a marathon surgery that took the entire day on Wednesday.
These are absolutely incredible people and we will be forever in their debt.
It is far from over for Nicole. We have a long road of rehab ahead of us which is going to take a long time but we are so lucky with the love and support that we have around us."
Nicole has now been in the rehabilitation hospital for over two months and will still be in there for a substantial amount of time.
We can't even begin to imagine the stress they would be under right now and know that they have many more challenges to overcome in the coming months. Dave is spending most of his time between work and the hospital at the moment. Nicole will be needing specialised equipment and support when she is discharged and they still have their everyday expenses to take into account. So we thought it might be of great help to them if we (family and friends) could help relieve some of their financial burden. You can put in $2, $10, $50, $1000 as much as you can at the moment to help these two amazing individuals. Anything will be appreciated no matter how little.
All funds raised will go towards supporting Dave and Nicole with the financial burdens they currently face and will encounter in the future. Nicole will be unable to work for the foreseeable future. Modifications will need to be made to their house to enable Nicole to return home. Once Nicole is able to return home she will need ongoing therapy from a range of specialists including physiotherapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy. Any money raised will go towards these things as well as supporting Dave and Nicole to meet mortgage repayments, bills etc
P.S:
We know that not everyone can help financially so if you would like to donate some of your time instead that would be of great help too. There are plenty of jobs to be done like gardening and cooking. If you think you can help in this way shoot us an email or facebook message so that we can liaise with Dave's family.
Organizer and beneficiary
Derryn Ling
Organizer
Reservoir, VIC
David Gallacher
Beneficiary