By ALEX and DEB DUNKLEY
What would you do if your daughter was diagnosed with brain cancer? Alex Dunkley, 28, was diagnosed with the biggest cancer killer of Australians under thirty-nine. Her mother, Deb, and Alex both tell Mamamia their tale.
Alex Dunkley, 28 (daughter)
A few days before Christmas just after my twenty seventh birthday in 2011 I woke up ill and the last thing I remember is throwing up in the bathroom.
My mum found me half in the bath half out of the bath having a seizure and called an ambulance. The hospital discovered a large tumour the size of an avocado in my left temporal lobe.
From that day on it felt like my life was in fast forward. I didn’t have time to be scared or stressed or over think anything.
I had surgery two days after Christmas but the surgery wasn’t successful and two and a half months later I had another seizure, this time at work. Up to this point I had just done what was advised, but from that moment I knew I had to take control of my own survival.
I was only twenty seven, had my whole life ahead of me and I wanted that life to be long. I wanted to travel, to explore the world and have adventures.
Someone suggested going interstate to see Charlie Teo and I flew to Sydney with my mum. Charlie gave me a choice. He could remove as much as possible with little risk or he could remove the whole tumour with greater risks and I may lose my speech.