A former Home and Away star has undergone more surgery in her ongoing brain cancer battle following her shock diagnosis at age 25.
Aussie actress Alea O’Shea has undergone more surgery in her ongoing fight with brain cancer.
The former Home And Away actress has been bravely facing treatments since her diagnosis last year aged just 25, and last week she had additional surgery which has been incredibly hard for both the actress and her family.
Friends have since set up a GoFundMe page to help ease the financial pressure of medical treatments and expenses, which have been piling up. And although it took months of persuasion to get O’Shea on-board, she has given her permission for the page to be created.
“Over the past months, Alea has been bravely facing brain cancer and the many treatments that come with it,” her friend and organiser Lauren Newton wrote on the page.
“Last week she underwent another surgery as part of her ongoing fight. While her courage has never wavered, the journey has been incredibly challenging for both Alea and her family.”
“Many people in our community have been asking how they can help. This page has been created to give friends, family, and the wider community a way to support Alea by helping ease the financial pressure of medical treatments and related expenses.”
The fundraiser is hoping to raise $80,000 but has already raised $78,003 across 604 donations as of Monday.
Newton has revealed that even while O’Shea has her own battle, she has been focused on raising awareness and supporting other women facing cancer. The actress recently started her own fundraiser to allow other young women without the funds to purchase high quality wigs and feel good about themselves.
“Her generosity of spirit in the midst of such a difficult time has moved so many of us,” Newton shared.
O’Shea first shared her devastating diagnosis in December on her social media channels, in which she told followers in a video that she learnt of her condition after having a biopsy on her birthday.
“This is a video I obviously thought I’d never have to make, but I’ve recently been diagnosed with brain cancer,” she began in the clip. “Saying that like, a hook, is insane. It’s been a crazy few weeks.”
“I’m choosing to be open and honest about this online, because I want to live my life as normally as possible while I’m fighting this.”
O’Shea – who is best known for her role as Darcy Callahan on H&A between 2011 and 2014 and then again from 2016 to 2017 – revealed that she first began to feel something felt “off” when she noticed tiny changes with her body, but she initially ignored.
“I noticed that my smile was a little uneven, and it felt harder to talk [and] get my words out,” she shared in the video. “I had a few migraines, but nothing scary.”
But things rapidly got worse during a work trip to the US late last year when she “lost feeling in two of my fingers, which then crept into my wrist and then my toe”.
She put it down to a pinched nerve and visited her physiotherapist, but he urged her to seek medical attention.
“He immediately realised it was beyond his scope and sent me to get a brain scan. And that’s how we found it,” she recalled.
Despite the severity of her diagnosis, O’Shea is choosing to remain positive.
“I can still walk, I can still lift my arm,” she said back in December. “[But] can I flip you off? No. Thumbs up? No. Or hold things? No.”
“But the good news is, where it is on my brain isn’t going to affect my personality. I’m still going to be as hilarious, and have the gift of the gab.”
Doctors have told the star that the cancer will eventually lead to paralysis to the left side of her body, but she and her medical team will take it one day at a time.
“In the coming months, I might be doing videos one handed. I might disappear when I need to, but mostly, I’m going to be showing up as me every single day that I can,” she promised, while thanking fans for their support.
“To everyone who follows me and has been invested in my journey thus far, regardless, thank you so much for being here. And thank you for staying through this chapter,” she added.
“It’s just another part of my story. And if it can bring some perspective, comfort, or positivity to other people out there going through it, whilst helping me get through it, that’s all I could ever want.”
