‘I’m in a lot less pain’: Dan’s long road ahead
❝ What do you do mate, it’s life, it goes on,”
— Dan Eiser
WITH no feeling in his legs and a long road to recovery ahead of him, Daniel Eiser was looking for positives yesterday.
“What do you do mate, it’s life, it goes on,” he said.
The 31-year-old went into surgery in the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane on Friday to remove a 7cm-long benign tumour that was pressing against his spine and forcing him to hunch over “like a banana” due to the unbearable pain.
After nearly seven hours on the operating table, Mr Eiser was transferred to the post-operation Intensive Care Unit around 3am, where he stayed overnight.
While Mr Eiser and his family are waiting for Thursday to get a full run-down from the neurosurgeon who performed the operation, there are a few things he is certain of.
“I’m in a lot less pain - the nerve pain that I was having before,” he said.
“I’ve got no feeling in my legs and I can’t walk.
“I know they’ve removed about 85% of the tumor. That’s about all I know.”
A GoFundMe page created by Mr Eiser’s sister Brittany has so far raised $7,245 for the Toowoomba man and his young family.
The community’s generosity has been “overwhelming”, she said.
Mr Eiser said the support shown by Toowoomba through their donations was “awesome” and “would be a big help”.
One anonymous donor pitched in $500, and Ms Eiser said there had been a number of other nameless donations.
“We’ve just found out he doesn’t have access to income protection, so it’s going to be a huge help initially,” she said. “We’re very grateful.” The fact that the doctor was able to remove 85% of the tumour was “pretty amazing”, Ms Eiser said.
“Last time he went in for a biopsy they couldn’t work out what was normal and what was the tumour.
“This time they were able to remove 85%, and the remaining 15% was really entwined with his nervous system - they didn’t touch that.” Ms Eiser said while her brother currently couldn’t feel anything from his T5 vertebrae and below, he had been able to move his left toe once and had moved his left leg up and down.
“The doctor has prepared us for the worst, but we’re all hoping that it’s very early days and that he will walk again,” she said.
“Because there’s so much trauma and inflammation, so hopefully as the swelling comes down he gets more function back.
“Everything’s uncertain, it’s a bit overwhelming. I think the whole family is in a bit of shock at the moment.”
To donate to Mr Eiser’s campaign, head to gofundme.com/please-help -our-brother-dan.