My Big Fat Greek Fundraiser - Help save Elke

We invite you to join us on Friday, 13 March 2015 to Help save Elke, who is suffering from chronic Lyme disease and several potentially fatal co-infections – we are urgently trying to raise money for hugely expensive, appropriate, specialised, life-saving treatment.

Event details:

Friday, 13 March 2015

Opah Restaurant www.opah.com.au

Kingsway & Gerrale Street, Cronulla NSW

7 pm - 11 pm

ALL YOU CAN EAT Cocktail Tapas-style Greek Menu

&

UNLIMITED Beer, Wine and Champagne

As well as live entertainment throughout the evening

These all-inclusive tickets are $120 available NOW for ONLINE PURCHASE ONLY

There are lots of raffle and auction prizes up for grabs, worth BIG $$$

•A signature JM Nipper Board by Big Wave Surfer, 10 x Molokai champion, and invitee to the Eddie Aikau event, Jamie Mitchell

•Jordy Smith's surfboard that featured in the movie 'Modern Collective', with his original drawings on it, still waxed up and everything

•An autographed surfboard by professional female surfer Sally Fitzgibbons

•The Bondi Rescue Experience - Spend the day with the Bondi Rescue Lifeguards, ride on the jet-skis and have fun in the sun

•An outfit by IsabelandI, which recently featured in NY Fashion Week

•A Quicksilver Special Addition pair of Cronulla Sharks boardies, signed by the whole team

•A Billabong Prize Pack

•A voucher from Refresh Face and Body Day Spa

•A voucher from Clearskincare Clinics, which does a range of corrective skin treatments and laser therapies

•A voucher from Citybeach

•A voucher from Hurricaines Grill

•5 x 1 hour massages at Beachside Thai Massage Cronulla

Plus SO MUCH more …

For more information or to make a donation, please head to: www.helpsaveelke.com

Thank you for your support, we look forward to seeing you at what promises to be a very special evening.

Read more about Elke's story below:

Just over two years ago, a few months after her 24th birthday, Elke became stricken with a mysterious illness within 24 – 72 hours after arriving in Bali Indonesia, where she was staying in a rural village on a surf trip. As a result, her life has been turned upside down. What started off as an off-season flu-malaise, and developed into continuous persistent debilitating migrainous-like headaches, has deteriorated into a chronic state of ill-health. As the months rolled by and doctors struggled to find a cause, Elke declined further; to the extent that, for the past 17 months she has been unable to work, drive or continue study for her Masters degree. Surfing became no longer an option.

Today Elke finds it hard to walk, talks with a slur, and struggles to read, write and take-in information. Without warning she faints, turns grey and loses consciousness, sometimes in a convulsing seizure. Meanwhile, she is often bed-ridden because of the extreme pain of her neurological symptoms, facial palsy (facial muscle paralysis, i.e. droopy face), tremendous aches and pains throughout the body and chronic fatigue. The complete list of her symptoms and the story of what she has endured is extensive and frightening. After 22 months of inexplicable serious illnesses, excruciating pain and investigations involving: 14 specialists, 3 admissions to hospital, 2 surgeries and invasive tests, countless MRIs, CTs, Ultrasounds, and blood-tests, Elke was recently diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease, and additional potentially fatal co-infections Bartonella and Babesia. One of these co-infections has a fatality rate of up to 90% and another up to 42%, respectively. Risks are at the high-end of the scale for Elke, whose immune system is severely impaired, as chronic Lyme disease destroys the immune system, such that a common flu or infection could be fatal.

What’s more, as you may have recently seen on ‘Today Tonight’, ‘Channel 7 – Sunday Night Program’ and ‘A Current Affair’, there is major political controversy within the Australian medical profession about whether Lyme disease and Lyme-like illnesses (co-infections) exist in Australia. Despite rapidly increasing numbers of people being diagnosed each year, the prevailing viewpoint is that ‘there is no evidence of Lyme disease in Australia … it just does not happen here’. As a result, Medicare does not cover treatment of Lyme disease and co-infections. In Elke’s case, her treatment will cost in-excess-of $70 000, regardless that she is an Australian citizen and tax-payer. Due to this controversy there is also little-to-no awareness in the Australian medical community about Lyme disease and co-infections, and because of this lack of knowledge by Australian physicians at-large, the diagnostic testing methods and treatment available in Australia is sub-par. Consequently, patients like Elke, suffer from limited access to much needed medical care, and are forced to look overseas for treatment options. They have to source, organise and finance the treatment themselves.

Chronic Lyme disease is a horrible, debilitating and degenerative disease. Like many chronic immune disorders, due to its complexities, is difficult, and often impossible to cure. These are compounded when there are co-infections involved – the presence of co-infections adds an additional layer of severity and complexity to the disease. However, with appropriate treatment there can be remission of active disease, whereby the patient is symptom and pain-free. There are hospitals in Germany that specialise in the treatment of chronic Lyme disease and co-infections, where people from all over the world go for treatment. This is where Elke will be receiving treatment once she can raise the money to begin – we are urgently trying to raise money for this appropriate specialised treatment that is unavailable in Australia. The treatment needs to be continuous, hence the funds are needed prior to starting, for assurance that there’s enough to follow through to the end. Elke cannot wait any longer, she is already well into the chronic phase of Lyme disease and co-infections, and it has become very apparent that Elke is deteriorating fast. So time is of the essence: the sooner Elke can raise the money, the sooner she can start treatment, and the better chance she has of survival.

Please help save our beautiful Elke. If you are able to help, we will be eternally grateful.