Mum of seven gets new lease on life
WHEN Ana Raiyawa found out she had a large tumour in her head in April, her doctors in Fiji simply sent her home with medication.
The mother of seven could not get help in her home country and was told to look elsewhere for surgery or suffer the painful consequences of living with a 5cm-sized benign meningioma.
The 44-year-old from Lautoka then turned to her boss for help.
He contacted Gold Coast GP Dr Robert Mortimore, who was a regular visitor to the resort he man- aged, to see what he could do. Dr Mortimore got in touch with Pindara Private Hospital’s Dr Leong Tan, who immediately rallied support from staff to get Mrs Raiyawa surgery for free.
Dr Tan is one of the best neurosurgeons in Australia. He said he would always give up his time to help people wherever he could.
Last week, Mrs Raiyawa underwent the four-hour operation and will spend two weeks recovering on the Coast.
‘‘She’s pretty young and she has seven kids, so she needs to be around to look after her children,’’ Dr Tan said.
‘‘Whenever
there’s an
oppor- tunity, I routinely do these things, even locally because patients are quite poor.’’
Mrs Raiyawa was experiencing headaches, nausea and vomiting before doctors found the tumour, which was putting pressure on her brain and causing it to swell.
If left untreated the tumour would have caused seizures, paralysis and brain function loss.
‘‘I was very nervous and scared, but now I feel more content knowing I’m in capable hands,’’ Mrs Raiyawa said.
‘‘I was very worried. They don’t have the specialists and experts in Fiji and there are a lot of lowincome earners who struggle.’’