Newlywed who was given just 12 months to live is battling to make it to her brother's 21st after being diagnosed with aggressive brain tumour
- A young Australian woman has opened up about her battle with brain cancer
- Jess Giczey, 24, from Perth married her childhood sweetheart in August
- She first experienced symptoms while on an overseas working holiday in 2018
- The newlywed is participating in fundraising walk for cancer research this month
Jess Giczey (pictured) from Perth after her operation in 2019
A young bride has revealed how she was working at Disneyworld on a six-month overseas holiday when she began to experience strange symptoms that led to a devastating diagnosis.
Jessica Giczey, 24, from Perth, was living out a childhood dream working in America at the 'happiest place on earth' in 2018 as a well-earned break from her master's degree in tax law when her symptoms started.
She thought she was just exhausted.
'I was vomiting, I was tired all the time. My hearing and eyesight started getting really dim, which was probably the scariest part,' Ms Giczey said.
She said at first she assumed the symptoms were because of stress as money was so tight on her $10-an-hour job. She was also feeling homesick.
When she returned to Australia the severity of her symptoms became more pronounced, even as she stepped off the plane.
'You have to sign a [customs] declaration form and my handwriting was atrocious. My coordination was gone. This was the point when [my partner] Kilian started getting really concerned,' she said.
'We walked out the gates and my parents were picking us up, but I couldn't see them – they were right in front of me and I couldn't see them.'
Jess and her partner Kilian (pictured) were married last month and she is participating in a fundraising walk for cancer research this month
Ms Giczey was on a break from studying tax law at university and was working at Disneyworld when she began to feel unwell
The next morning she went and visited her GP assuming she would just be given some antibiotics.
'Kilian came into the appointment with me. My doctor was speaking to me across the desk and he's having to retell it literally straight into my ear.'
Her doctor immediately sent her for an MRI at hospital.
'This is the part I don't really remember because it all happened so fast. My head was so unwell that I didn't have a feeling. They talk about brain fog, it was very much like that. I didn't think it was anything serious.'
The scan revealed a mass on Jess brain with the surgeon putting in a shunt and performing a biopsy which confirmed a stage 4 glioblastoma.
'Mum and Dad start crying and we just kind of had a family breakdown.'
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'At this point, the tumor is the size of my fist and was right at the top of my brain stem so it was too dangerous to operate.'
Jess was given about 12-months to live but two-and-a-half years later is still fighting.
Radiation therapy throughout 2019 shrunk the tumour to about half its size where it remained stable through 2020.
Jess and Kilian Giczey celebrated their wedding day last month (pictured)
Jess is still fighting on three years later after receiving the devastating diagnosis and wants to attend her brother's 21st
However, in 2021 after suffering a severe migraine that affected her ability to speak she went back to hospital for more tests.
More MRI scans revealed a second tumor below the first and, devastatingly, tumors on her spine - too many to do radiation on.
'I didn't want to name that I had passed that 12-month timeline. I'm very aware of it but I just want to keep going,' she said.
'Now I want to get to five years or I want to get to my brother's 21st. At first, it was his 18th but now I want to get to his 21st and I want to get to my sister's 25th.'
Jess and Kilian were married last month and the newlywed is now raising money for cancer research.
She is participating in the Walk 4 Brain Cancer fundraiser on September 26, praising researchers and those raising money.
'I can't put it into words, that's literally my life. There's a whole community out there that I don't even know who are literally raising money so that people stay alive.'
'After the 18 months we've all had, that's our human spirit coming through,' she said.
Ms Giczey is raising funds for cancer research in her hometown of Perth (pictured)
She praised those researching cancer treatments and the community raising funds
