Nelson needs support for his Cancer Fight

Hi my name is Nelson Curyer, I am currently 24 years of age, live in Adelaide, Australia and I have an extremely aggressive case of cancer and I am running out of hope without your help.

This isn’t a position I ever expected I would ever be in. I have never been the type of person to call out for financial support but here I am now facing the harsh reality of what this illness can bring financially to people’s lives, this is my cancer story.

Back in February 2020 shortly after my 21st birthday I was given the shocking news that I had been diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma (BCOR variant), a rare aggressive bone cancer.

I was given the news from an MRI scan done on my pelvic and back region due to having extreme discomfort of nerve pain running down my left leg. It turned out I had an Apple sized tumour growing in my left pelvic bone, which travelled into my spine. This news was extremely unexpected and upsetting as I thought I had hurt myself at Plumbing Trade school, or in the gym, being quite an active young bloke, but that was far from the case.

After discussing all the options for treatment with my oncologist Dr Ganessan Kichenadasse at Flinders medical Centre, I started high dose chemotherapy shortly weeks after the devastating news, for the first 4 months to begin this new life changing journey. I then travelled to Sydney for an operation and underwent a 13 hour procedure, removing the tumour from my pelvis and spine and inserting a 3D Titanium implant into the required area by Dr Paul Stalley.

Once I had recovered from my operation I travelled back to Adelaide and continued with a further 3 months of chemotherapy combined with radiation around the areas that the tumours were removed. After an extremely hard 10 months of this process I finally rang the bell at Flinders Infusion Suite that I was in remission at the end of 2020.

I truly thought the hardest battle in my life was finally over and I could move forward from this nightmare of a year, but unfortunately about a year later I was given the news that my cancer had come back in my pelvic region and lungs. My heart sunk, I was shocked how this extremely rare cancer could be so aggressive after all the damage I had put my body through.

It turned out this was only the beginning of my tough journey fighting, but the only difference was now repeating a similar process with a more weakened body and a cancer that was more angry than ever to stick around and take over. 

Since then I have undergone several more operations in my back region removing tumours. Further tumours have also appeared in my lungs and kidney. The tumours have been treated with radiation and chemotherapy. The relapses of this disease just would not stop. The more operations and traditional treatments I did, the worse my cancer would come back overtime and the weaker my body and health is currently becoming.

I am now at the stage where I’m not finding traditional treatments to be working on my cancer anymore, and now I’m looking at other treatment avenues my chemo oncologist is recommending. My family and I have already spent multiple thousands of dollars on operations, treatments and travel just to find out horrible news again and again.

As a result of this devastating illness I was unable to complete the third year of my Plumbing Apprenticeship. I was fortunate to obtain employment at a Plumbing sales company, which has been interrupted with treatments and operations that has affected my ability to attend at times, due to side effects and my body being overall weaker to handle full time employment.

My employer, Highgrove Bathrooms has been extremely supportive and understanding of my situation.

My partner Britteney has been by my side from the beginning, we were fortunate enough to get engaged late last year. She is my rock, and we are planning on getting married next year and sharing a long and happy life together. We are trying our hardest to hold onto hope and find a positive outcome of life from an extremely hard situation.

I am a very enthusiastic person that tries to stay positive majority of the time for my family, friends and most importantly my partner. I have always been very career driven to make something of myself even with all the setbacks life has thrown at me.

I always seem to get back up and keep trying to move forward and explore new opportunities, whether that’s treatments for my cancer or work and activity related. A lot has changed in my life in a very short few years but I always seem to look on the bright side of a very difficult situation to mentally and physically deal with.

Here I am now writing to whoever is reading my story hoping I can find the help my family and I are in desperate need for. This is to continue my new immunotherapy treatment I am currently doing and potential further treatments that may be worth trying in the near future as the fight isn’t over for me just yet.

Immunotherapy is one of the newest, but also becoming the biggest, life changing treatment opportunities for different cancers that are out there.

Right now this immunotherapy is costing me $3,500 every 3 weeks and this is meant to be ongoing for two years minimum.

Any financial donation could be life changing for me. All I want to be able to do is live as long as I can with my family, friends and beautiful fiancé and make the most of what the good part of life can offer to all of us. Every week that goes by the harder the battle is becoming and your support is now the only way I may still have a chance to live on and finally find the light at the end of the tunnel and put this struggling life behind me.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story. ❤️

Kind Regards, Nelson Curyer.