By Derek Schlennstedt
It’s every mother’s fear that she may die before her child and be unable to watch them grow and develop with the overwhelming, nurturing love that only a mother can provide.
Every day, Sherie Lucas lives with that fear.
The Monbulk mother received news in January 2016 that she had a cavernous haemangioma brain tumor.
It’s the horror of knowing that she may die and be unable to watch and guide her darling daughter – the unavoidable pain and loss her daughter will suffer because of her absence, and the shadow it will leave on her daughter’s life.
For if you aren’t there, then who could ever tend to your child as you would? Who, other than you, could possibly know what they need?
Each morning, Sherie wakes up unsure if she will have another stroke – a fourth and perhaps final such event which would render her wheelchair-bound or worse.
The 28-year-old mother and her 29-year-old husband from Monbulk were thrown into a state of constant limbo, when in January last year Sherie woke with a strong headache and the loss of her motor functions.
“I got out of bed to go to work in the morning and my vision was quite fuzzy, I fell out of bed and couldn’t really use my legs,” she said.
“We went to Angliss hospital at 10am in the morning and were still there by 7 at night and it was just getting worse.”
The doctors told Sherie the stroke was caused by a rare brain cavernous hemangioma – a blood vessel malformation from a benign tumor that had burst and bled, and which due to its location would be difficult to remove.
Their daughter Harley was 10 months old and Sherie, struggling with re-learning how to walk, managing a hairdressing business in Monbulk, and being a new mother, was forced to sell her business.
“Each time I would work I came home worse then I felt that morning.”
In August, on the day she sold her business Sherie suffered a second stroke and although smaller she describes each one as creating a ‘deficit’ – each time taking its toll on her mind and her body.
After being told by neurosurgeons that she should just ‘monitor it,’ she returned to work and normal life in May.
But again her health deteriorated and in March this year she had a third further bleed from the cavernoma.
Stagnating and with no result forthcoming from neurosurgeons Julian and Sherie contacted Dr Charlie Teo, who is known for performing surgeries classed as inoperable.
Following the meeting in Sydney the surgeon believed Sherie was a good candidate for surgery, and said the operation should have been done when the hemangioma was discovered as her ‘next bleed could put her in a wheelchair or worse, be fatal’.
But to get surgery the family needed $100,000 to pay for the urgent operation and due to debt were unable to get a loan. To help raise money for the fees, Julian created a GoFundMe page.
The news from Dr Teo that Sherie might die at any moment shocked the family.
As any mother would, Sherie immediately thought of her daughter and husband and the unthinkable possibility of leaving them behind.
“When Charlie said it could be fatal that was one of the first things I thought of, leaving Harley behind,” Sherie wept.
“I want to try and prevent that as much as I can … not being able to see her grow up and her being without a mum, I couldn’t imagine it.
“I thought to myself even if I do have some slight deficits after the surgery I just don’t care anymore – I want to be here for her as much as I can be.”
The GoFundMe page has already raised over $40,000 and both Sherie and Julian said they were overwhelmed with the responses and were grateful for all the kind donations.
To make a donation visit https://www.gofundme.com/uyscg-save-my-wife
