The big surgery

Hey everyone,

I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a while. A few things have happened over the last couple of months.

My daughter started kindergarten, we moved house then we saw my surgeon and he told us to get a second opinion in Sydney.

The initial plan was for a debulking surgery (try and remove as much of the tumour as possible) followed by months of radiotherapy but that would only give me a few more years of life left.

We travelled to Sydney to see another surgeon and he said he wants to remove all of the tumour, my entire left lung, replace my entire diaphragm with a prosthetic one, remove my phrenic nerve and half my vocal chords – (I was told I would sound like Neville Wran after surgery) and also my entire pericardium (lining around the heart).

The surgery is the same for advanced mesothelioma and highly specialised so only a small handful of surgeons practice this kind of surgery in Australia.

Surgery will be a day after my 32nd birthday and as time nears I am getting a bit nervous.

I am so thankful that I am surrounded by such kind, and loving people – both friends and strangers.

One thing you learn when you have a serious illness is that the world can be a wonderfully kind place, there are all these healthcare professionals that are doing everything in their power to ensure you have a chance at life. They don’t even know me as a person but they are saving my life.

My work setup a fundraiser so that I can spend the next few months recovering at home as I will be unable to work for a while due to the extensive surgery. It has been a Godsend for us as we could not comprehend how I could stop work to have this surgery and be at home.

The fundraiser is doing very well much to the kindness of friends, family, coworkers and complete strangers.

When I am better I promise to pay this kindness forward and do as much as I can to help others – especially individuals with serious illnesses and vulnerable families/children.

There will be a trivia night on June 20 at the Canberra Club and all are welcome and proceeds will be to ensure I get as much rest and rehabilitation as possible.

I am also planning a project on Rare Cancers in Australia and some info can be found on it in this article in the Canberra Times. (I will post separately about this later)

Thank you and Happy Easter everybody!

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