Queensland woman's battle with rare form of brain cancer: 'Dad, I think it's time'
By Jo Abi|
Adam and Julia Mitchell, parents to beautiful 22-year-old daughter Maddie, were so proud of her and all she had accomplished.
She was living her best life in Queensland where she grew up, working in childcare and in a committed relationship destined for marriage and a family.
Unfortunately, Maddie suddenly became unwell. Suffering from crippling headaches and nausea which majorly impacted her everyday life.
"She was working as a before and after school care coordinator. She loved her work, it was her dream job since she was very young. She put all her symptoms down to being stressed from work and fought through," Julia tells 9Honey. "Then the symptoms started getting worse, so she continued to take Panadol and Nurofen to try and keep it at bay to be able to function."
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Maddie continued that way for some time. There was no improvement and it all began to worsen.
"She was such a strong girl. She always has been. A saying that became repetitive throughout her journey was, 'I'm okay,' to put our minds at ease," her mum explains.
On Maddie's 22nd birthday, the 8th of August, her partner Adrian proposed. Even though Maddie was still quite unwell, the answer was 'yes' and she was able to perk up for a little bit and celebrate the proposal with a dinner with family and friends.
From there Maddie's symptoms continued to further worsen.
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"All she could do was sleep, she couldn't and wouldn't eat and she even struggled to drink anything, water included. Maddie thought that sleeping would fix it all," Julia says.
She thought it was time to visit the doctors where she was sent for scans.
"She literally walked out of the scans and the lady who took her in was in shock, as white as a ghost, handed her the envelope and told her to go straight to the hospital, don't go home, don't go anywhere else, just go straight to the hospital emergency department so they went straight there, they didn't know what was going on," she continues.
"Adrian rang Adam straight away to let the family know what was happening."
The Mitchell family rushed to the hospital to be by her side.
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"Maddie had no idea what was going on, she simply couldn't comprehend" Julia said.
Maddie's scan resulted in the discovery of a large mass on her brain.
"We began to research and saw that generally around Maddie's age, masses on the brain tend to be benign" Julia said. "We were thinking we just had to go with the flow, deal with whatever was thrown our way. If it were a benign mass, they would just remove it. Well that's what we thought."
"The lady just handed her the envelope and told her to go straight to hospital, don't go home, don't go anywhere else."?
Adam explained, "She had taken Asprin for her headache's before she received the scans so they couldn't operate until the following week. Plan's were put in place and she was sent home."
Asprin works as a blood thinner which can make a serious and complex surgery like this extremely risky, if not life threatening.
"The following morning, Maddie was not in a good way. Adrian had been caring for her prior to Julia (Mum) and Sheridan's (sister) arrival. She had already had numerous seizures, vomiting, unresponsive and had lost all control. An ambulance was called immediately and they came with light's and siren's," Julia explains.
"It was devastating, horrific and terrifying to see her like that, practically lifeless on the bed," Julia says.? The seizures continued in the ambulance, Maddie had become so unwell we didn't get to see her when she arrived at the hospital as she was rushed in for emergency surgery.
"If they hadn't operated, we could have lost her."
Doctors tried to explain what was happening but it was extremely difficult to take all the information in when in such a state of shock. Maddie was placed in an induced coma for four days, the surgery affecting her speech, memory and cognitive skills. She began rehabilitation shortly after.
Almost four weeks later, the family was given the devastating news. Maddie was diagnosed with Stage 4 Glioblastoma Brain Cancer. This diagnosis was linked to a gene Julia carries that resulted in Julia having endometrial cancer earlier in the year. This gene is called Lynch Syndrome.
"Maddie was absolutely distraught," Julia says. "We were all very numb, in complete shock and utter disbelief. We couldn't believe what was happening."
Following the surgery, her treatment continued. Undergoing radiation and oral chemo, whilst her family and medical team looked into possible clinical trials to help prolong what time she had left.
In September 2021, Maddie's cancer had progressed. She required another craniotomy and more invasive cancer removal.
"She did everything they asked her to do, everything she needed to do, without complaining," Julia says. "She was always worrying about everyone else instead of herself."
Adam says the family kept her health battle private at first but slowly let family and friends know as Maddie's condition worsened.?
"She had close friends and a lot of support around her," Julia says, explaining that her daughter was able to stay at home for the most part but numerous visits to the hospital were required for the ongoing treatment.?"
Unfortunately, Maddie's health continued to worsen.
?"Late one night, Maddie became extremely unwell. She was in immense pain, suffering from vomiting, headaches and sensitivity to light. She was in tears, wanting to simply use the bathroom or drink some water but couldn't do it so we called an ambulance immediately in pure panic," Adam recalls. "She looked at me and said, 'Dad, I think it's time. I think it's time Dad.'
"I said, 'No, Maddie. It's just the medicine. I'm here, Mum's here, Adrian's here, Shez is here. We're going to look after you. We've got help coming, okay. Stay strong sweet heart.'"
?Once again Maddie was admitted into hospital, we spent hours in the emergency department and were later moved to another ward. "She woke up at midnight and called out to me, and then she started to vomit," Julia says. "She said to me and Sheridan, 'I'm sorry'. I told her, 'You don't have anything to be sorry for darling.' But that's all she said. They were here last words."
"Nobody was saying what was happening or we didn't understand what they were saying," Julia says. "It was so hard to watch her go through so much and to be in so much pain. ?It was horrific, the whole thing was extremely heart breaking to watch."
"We talked to her, played her favourite music so she knew we were there with her and she was still here with us. We were all there by her side when she took her last breath."
The palliative care team did their best to assist and support the family, ensuring Maddie was kept comfortable.
Unfortunately, this was Maddie's last time being admitted to the GCUH. On December 3, Maddie lost her fight to cancer after her long, and hard 14-month battle.
Maddie's strength is what kept the family going, her fight for survival.
Maddie's family now are continuing to try and spread awareness and raise funds to help other battlers and their families. They shared her story to help raise funds for the Children's Cancer Institute, where they participated in the Townsville to Cairns Bike Ride which is 364kms over 3 days. This was the seventh time Adam has participated in the bike ride and the first time Maddie's sister, Sheridan took part.
The ride was completed earlier this year, where the Mitchell family raised over $11,000.
"This one is a very special ride as we honour our beautiful Maddie," Adam explains.?
"We will continue to honour our Maddie and fight to help find a cure for brain cancer however we can as no family should have to go through what we went through."
Support the Mitchell family's fundraising effort this year by visiting the website.?
