Help the Hurley's deal with terminal illness

Together the Smith and Hurley families are raising funds to help our extended family deal with terminal illness.

D'elle is 50 and has been robbed of her health and now her husband Stewart 57 has suddenly been diagnosed with terminal illness - a double whammy of the worst kind. They live in Batemans Bay NSW, and have four boys, and 3 grandchildren.

For almost a decade D’elle has suffered unusual and severe 'nerve deterioration', the symptoms have left her in a full-time-bedridden state usually shrouded in migraine. D’elle has been the test patient for many new treatments none of which have worked! She is now considered disabled and has been unable to work for many years.

Escalating this to a whole new level, in 2021 she was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease. Huntington’s is very serious and simply described as an 'incurable neurodegenerative disease'. At this point, the family was down to one income that Stew delivered while simultaneously providing D'elle with part-time care at home.

Christmas 2022 some of us visited D'elle and Stew upon which, despite the hardship of D’elle’s condition, Stewart was beyond healthy, if not thriving!

A few months later, in February 2023, word filtered down that Stew was having dizzy spells, unable to walk without getting dizzy and unable to work or drive! A confusing contrast to when we saw him a few months earlier! Stew's condition worsened and last week (July 23), he was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease which is described as a 'very rare and serious disease. It causes the brain to degenerate and become spongy, leading to dementia and inevitably death'. This devastating disease has left Stewart with as short as 8 months to 2 years to live. CJD is an extremely rare disease affecting 1 in a million.

This is the saddest most unlikely coincidence of horrible diagnosis one family could fathom. D'elle and Stew are generous beautiful people who have worked hard and have raised 4 great boys.

They need to make plans starting quite quickly, assuming their diagnosis reaps the ugliest outcome. They need to get their affairs in order while hoping for the best they must prepare for the worst.

We’re targeting $100,000. A big ask but it is possible with everyone’s help not just in donating but helping this go viral by sharing the link. They are modest people, having been off work and or self-employed in small business, they both now rely on government support.

Their home is midway through a renovation that Stew’s been building himself. To sell the house and downsize, this needs to be completed, costing circa $50k. Then they need to relocate to a house that can see them through an unknown period! Gaining a mortgage will be impossible, not to mention stamp duty and the rest. Then there are endless medical, daily, monthly, expenses that are rolling in. Made worse by the spiralling cost of living.

Unfortunately, we can’t just will this away, they are suffering a duo of unfathomable terminal illnesses and they need our help.

Please help.