When a brain tumour strikes

By Staff Sergeant Tina Grant

My story started with severe headaches on a work trip that was half way around the world.

I struggled to shake the headaches with medication, and decided it was time to take a visit to the MO on my arrival back in country. He tried IV pain relief and various other oral prescribed meds with no relief, hence a ride to the hospital in the back of an ambulance to Palmerston North Accident and Emergency.

By 2030hrs that very night I was diagnosed with a brain tumour the size of an orange over my front right lobe. Finally, I had some meds to help with the pain! I was lucky enough to not be terminal and the tumour operable but what if there were complications?

I was the liaison officer for Families of the Fallen and I am the one who has to help families pick up the pieces after our soldiers die. You would think a soldier is always prepared to deploy overseas with appropriate soldier training and trade skills all polished and ready to go. However we often forget about the most important admin of all – our personal affairs.

Get your affairs in order and reduce the stress on your loved ones left behind.

NZDF Recovery Coordinator

Within our organisation we are lucky to have people to support us through difficult health events. One of the people who helped me through this journey was Tracey Saunders – Northern Recovery Co-Ordinator (RC). Her role within my journey was to coordinate my care with the numerous stakeholders involved: my whānau, medical people (doctors, nurses, physio, and occupational therapist), medical equipment providers, homecare providers, chemists, transportation and my Chain of Command. She took care of anything and everything so that I could re-focus my thoughts and energy into my recovery.

Our organisation has three RC’s who are located in Auckland, Linton and Burnham. Their reach is wide and they are amazing individuals who can travel to reach their clients, no matter their region or what service they are in.

Once I had engaged with my RC my next job was to ensure I had my personal affairs in order – my Advance Care Plan (ACP) and my Will. Nobody likes talking about dying but as you know we are sure about two things in life “death and taxes”. I wanted my affairs in order before I had my surgery which was rapidly approaching…

Advance care planning and a Will

What is advance care planning?

Advance care planning helps you, the important people in your life and your health care team plan for your end-of-life care. However, ACP’s are not just for the elderly or terminally ill. As we know in life, unfortunate things can happen at unexpected times to people of any age. We pride ourselves in NZDF on being prepared. So why wouldn’t we be prepared for an unforeseen health event such as a brain tumour?

ACP is a tool which helps you understand what the future might hold, and to say what health care you would or would not want. This makes it much easier for everyone to know what you want – especially if you can no longer speak for yourself.

An advance care plan includes what is meaningful for you, such as people and pets, your values and the ways you would like those caring for you to look after your spiritual and emotional needs.

It can also cover what sort of funeral you would like, whether you want to donate your organs, whether you want to be buried or cremated, where your important papers are and whether you have in place an enduring power of attorney or advance directive. Often people will say ‘I have written it in my will’. That is too late as the will is not usually read until after the

SSGT Grant with the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell.

funeral, so decisions and end-of-life care will already have been made.

Making sure your whānau is not burdened by tough decisions is extremely important to most, so communicating your end of life wishes in plan can ease what may be a stressful time for your whānau. • Check out: www.myacp.org.nz • Or if you wish to talk further about ACP:

Antonia Nicholson: antonia.nicholson@nzdf.mil.nz

CAPT Rebecca Maddaford: rebecca.maddaford@nzdf.mil.nz

SSGT Tina Grant: tina.grant@nzdf.mil.nz

CHAPLAIN Peter Olds: peter.olds@nzdf.mil.nz

Will

Writing a Will assists your loved ones to ensure that are remembered the way you want them to be and what you own is distributed to the people you want it to be given too.

When someone you love dies and leaves ‘unfinished’ business it makes the grief journey that much harder and longer for you to start your healing. I wanted to update my will, in case I died and I did not want any additional burden left for my family to deal with.

I know that if someone dies and they haven’t written their Will, the Courts have to decide who gets what money/possessions and this process can take over a year. That’s hard for any family to deal with at what is already a stressful time.

Did you know in the last five years since 1 July 2016 NZDF has experienced 68 deaths (an average of 13.6 per year)?

The vast majority of deaths are non-work related – cancers, heart attacks or heart failure, tumours, car crashes etc. Sadly each year there is also at least one suicide.

On average 30 to 35% (one third) of deaths each year there is an up to date Will. The other two-thirds there is no Will or the Will is out of date.

How do you go about updating or writing your Will? Where do you find one?

For NZDF members and their partners it’s free – just look under ‘Force Financial Hub’ and go to the Wills page. • Check out: http://ilp/

InternetToDesktopRedirect. aspx?externalUrl=https:// force4families.mil.nz/forcefinancial-hub/

I am fortunate that my surgery went well as is my recovery, and that I had great support at a difficult time. It was important to me that I was admin fit in order to look out for my family. I would encourage everyone to write an Advance Care Plan and Will. Once you’ve done them, you can file them away and crack on with living!

PTE Teddy returning from deployment soon Teddy will be available early December