Supporting Alex through brain tumour diagnoses

Alex is only 35 years of age and was given a devastating diagnosis, when a brain tumour was discovered and this is Alex's story so far;

Alex was rushed into the emergency department at our local hospital in Hobart on Christmas morning (25th Dec 2023) he had been unwell for about a week prior with headaches and was a little wobbly on his feet. When we got to the hospital we were seen pretty quickly which was a blessing, and then we were given the terrible news that they had found what looked to be a tumour predominantly on the right side of Alex's brain. Emergency surgery was done that same evening and they removed a tumour the size of a cricket ball and he spent some time in the ICU before being moved to a ward. This was obviously a huge shock to Alex and us, we are still processing everything and taking it day by day. Alex was able to get the stitches out of his head 10 days after surgery but we then had a bump in the road as he ended up with an infection and had to then under go another emergency surgery to clean out everything and unfortunately the bone was also infected and so they had to remove that piece for now. Alex is currently still in hospital but we are hopeful he may be able to go home soon, he is in good spirits at the moment. The diagnosis of the type of tumour Alex has was very upsetting for us all to hear, its extremely rare and is likely it will grow back. Alex will need to undergo chemo and radiation once his scar has healed enough and we are hopeful this treatment will help slow it. We have a very long road ahead of us and we are hoping through your generosity that perhaps Alex can make it back to Japan and tick a few things off his bucket list.

Thank you for your support we appreciate you all so much more than you will ever know.