This mother of four is fighting together with her children to fly her husband Diego Wernicke to Sydney to undergo a life-saving surgery by auctioning hand-painted tea towels on social media.
The goal is to raise $100,000 to pay for the expenses of the trip.
The husband’s and father’s life turned upside down back in March of 2019 when he had a seizure in front of his two eldest daughters; Luna who’s five and Mili who’s three; outside their home in Gold Coast.
The traumatized and distressed young girls ran to the neighbors who took their father to the hospital.
Unfortunately, they got bad news: he had stage 3 brain cancer.
One Brain Surgeon Became the Family’s only Hope
When the local doctors refused to operate on the tumor because of its location in a high-risk brain area, his wife, Hayley Allen who’s 32, said that one renowned brain surgeon became their sole hope.
The surgeon, Charlie Teo, believes he can get 99 percent of the tumor out. Although a definitive answer is impossible, this surgery would add years to Diego’s life, compared to the prognosis of only 12 months now.
Without this surgery, their 5-month-old son Folk who was conceived prior to the tumor’s discovery won’t have any memory of his dad.
And, Charlie Teo has to be invited to Queensland by a public hospital to be able to perform the surgery and this hasn’t happened in 35 years.
Sadly, despite all of the letters from doctors and recommendations to fly the surgeon over the border, they’ve had no luck and opened up a fundraiser to take the father to Sydney.
His wife explains that all of the public hospitals say that they can’t do anything and that they will need to take him to Sydney.
Their Oldest Daughter Was Heartbroken
Luna is their oldest daughter who’s 7 and she was heartbroken when she watched her dad having the first seizure.
She broke down crying and saying ‘I don’t want daddy to die’ and the family had to take her to a therapist.
Sweet Luna is helping her father get the much-needed treatment by auctioning painted tea towels on Instagram. So far, the sweet girl collected $600. Teo told the family he could operate tomorrow if they collect the necessary funds.
Until then, they’re stretching every cent to while still having to pay for rent and buy food.
The challenges have been numerous, especially since Diego has been unable to work since he got ill. The mother is taking the children to school and takes Diego to doctor’s appointments.
They even had to move to a more affordable home. Ms Allen says that she likes keeping busy because when she stops, thoughts begin to overwhelm her.
The family is thankful and blown away by the generous donations and hope to raise the remaining funds and take Diego to Sydney ASAP.
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