Linda's fight to get her life back
Donation protected
Help us get our life back…
My name is Michel Hulzebos, I am Linda’s husband. Many say that our love story could be published as a romantic novel or would do well as a movie. We’ve had many struggles working against us, but so far it has only made us stronger, however, we’re now in a completely different fight. A fight we MUST win as it is the fight to get our life back…
On 8 Jan 2019, Linda was getting off the tram to go to her final oncologist appointment after a successful battle against breast cancer when she was struck by a car… a bull-bar to be exact. The impact of the accident triggered a so-called Tarlov cyst in the base of Linda’s spine and since the accident, Linda has been in constant horrendous pain and her quality of life has significantly become unbearable. She is unable to walk, stand or sit for too long due to where the cyst is located.
The cyst is pushing against her sciatic nerve sending severe sharp searing pains from her lower back all the way down her leg & foot and spends most of her day in bed and on strong pain medication.
Besides the constant pain, the cyst also slowly erodes the bone, which together with the nerve damage will cause lasting issues. It can cause severe mobility issues, as well as, the side effects of nerve damage, which can cause vertigo and incontinence.
These cysts are not rare, around 5%-8% of the population have them; but it’s rare for the cyst to become symptomatic. Besides being rare, the cyst is part of the nerve system in the spine, which makes is risky and extremely hard to remove. In Australia, the only course of action is pain management (through opioids) but surgery is not an option.
The hardest thing is to watch the love of your life go through such pain and feel helpless and unable to do anything… the toughest thing I’ve ever had to endure because when she is taking these medications, I no longer see the bright light that is Linda.
However, there is hope… there is only one surgeon in the world who can treat them with surgery successfully. This surgeon has to date successfully removed and helped over 3000 patients from his clinic in Texas and through a specialised spinal surgery clinic on Cyprus.
Linda is desperate to try the surgery to give herself one last chance for some kind of life... This surgery is not covered by insurance and is completely out of pocket and requires overseas travel. If all goes to plan surgery is set for late September, early October 2019.
This latest setback comes after a string of painful episodes for Linda. Over the past 10 years, she has battled a debilitating nerve pain disorder and a lengthy bureaucratic fight with the immigration department to keep me in Australia, so we would finally be able to start our lives together. We thought it couldn’t get any worse when Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018...
Linda is such a loving, kind, and generous soul who is always thinking of others - even when she is going through her own challenges in life.
She deserves this chance at achieving some kind of quality of life and now requires the help of her friends and family.
As we are now facing this challenge we would be so appreciative and very humbly thankful to anyone who would please consider helping us to fund this expensive surgery, so we can find our way back on the path to the happy life we have commenced together.
My name is Michel Hulzebos, I am Linda’s husband. Many say that our love story could be published as a romantic novel or would do well as a movie. We’ve had many struggles working against us, but so far it has only made us stronger, however, we’re now in a completely different fight. A fight we MUST win as it is the fight to get our life back…
On 8 Jan 2019, Linda was getting off the tram to go to her final oncologist appointment after a successful battle against breast cancer when she was struck by a car… a bull-bar to be exact. The impact of the accident triggered a so-called Tarlov cyst in the base of Linda’s spine and since the accident, Linda has been in constant horrendous pain and her quality of life has significantly become unbearable. She is unable to walk, stand or sit for too long due to where the cyst is located.
The cyst is pushing against her sciatic nerve sending severe sharp searing pains from her lower back all the way down her leg & foot and spends most of her day in bed and on strong pain medication.
Besides the constant pain, the cyst also slowly erodes the bone, which together with the nerve damage will cause lasting issues. It can cause severe mobility issues, as well as, the side effects of nerve damage, which can cause vertigo and incontinence.
These cysts are not rare, around 5%-8% of the population have them; but it’s rare for the cyst to become symptomatic. Besides being rare, the cyst is part of the nerve system in the spine, which makes is risky and extremely hard to remove. In Australia, the only course of action is pain management (through opioids) but surgery is not an option.
The hardest thing is to watch the love of your life go through such pain and feel helpless and unable to do anything… the toughest thing I’ve ever had to endure because when she is taking these medications, I no longer see the bright light that is Linda.
However, there is hope… there is only one surgeon in the world who can treat them with surgery successfully. This surgeon has to date successfully removed and helped over 3000 patients from his clinic in Texas and through a specialised spinal surgery clinic on Cyprus.
Linda is desperate to try the surgery to give herself one last chance for some kind of life... This surgery is not covered by insurance and is completely out of pocket and requires overseas travel. If all goes to plan surgery is set for late September, early October 2019.
This latest setback comes after a string of painful episodes for Linda. Over the past 10 years, she has battled a debilitating nerve pain disorder and a lengthy bureaucratic fight with the immigration department to keep me in Australia, so we would finally be able to start our lives together. We thought it couldn’t get any worse when Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018...
Linda is such a loving, kind, and generous soul who is always thinking of others - even when she is going through her own challenges in life.
She deserves this chance at achieving some kind of quality of life and now requires the help of her friends and family.
As we are now facing this challenge we would be so appreciative and very humbly thankful to anyone who would please consider helping us to fund this expensive surgery, so we can find our way back on the path to the happy life we have commenced together.
Fundraising team (3)
Michel Hulzebos
Organizer
Brunswick, VIC
Marlies Bodewes
Team member
Linda Piccardini
Team member