‘I’m scared and I want Charlie Teo’: Aussie woman’s crushing diagnosis at just 22

A mental health care worker felt her world close in around her when doctors found a lesion in her brain during a routine MRI for headaches. She soon realised the only person that can help her is Dr Charlie Teo. But he is in China.

At 22, Amy Norman felt like her world had fallen apart when a routine MRI found a lesion in her brain that doctors said would kill her in a matter of months.

Worse was the news that neurosurgeons at the Queensland hospital couldn’t operate or even perform a biopsy because it was considered “too dangerous”.

The mental health support worker hasn’t been back to work since the May diagnosis and is desperate for options.

“We googled and we googled and we googled,” Ms Norman said.

“The name that kept coming up about rare brain tumours was Charlie Teo. But we were seeing all the bad stuff online and as far as we are concerned he couldn’t operate or do anything here so we cast that idea aside.”

Dr Charlie Teo. Picture: Jeff Darmanin

Dr Teo has not operated in Australia for over a year after the Health Care Complaints Commission restricted his licence because of two terrible outcomes from his surgery.

Despite the ban more than 50 Australians have travelled overseas in the past 12 months so Dr Teo could operate.

After a “horrible” with a Sydney neurosurgeon who said she faced a potential bill of $50,000, Ms Norman and her partner Brendan Wright kept looking.

“They just dismissed us,” Mr Wright said. “The name that kept on coming up was Charlie Teo so that same night we found him through his Teo Foundation Instagram page and we emailed him.”

Within an hour, his office had responded and organised an appointment.

Dr Charlie Teo will be the only surgeon Amy Norman will consider allowing to operate on her brain tumour. Picture: Supplied.

Ms Norman said Dr Teo pointed out how dire her situation could be, but she had options. For now the tumour is stable, so no immediate decisions need to be made about surgery, but she knows where to turn when they do.

“If the tumour grows then Charlie is the only one touching me,” she said.

“He’s the only one who will do it, no one else is touching me, we will pay for it, we will find the money.

“We have seen for ourselves what he is really like, so supportive and honest and gives us confidence that we are in safe hands and we’ve seen first hand how other medical people in this country turn their nose up at the mention of his name. It’s so wrong.”

No one could be more angry than Jodie Barnwell McNabb whose husband Les was diagnosed with the aggressive tumour known as GBM.

Les McNabb and his wife Jodie 11 hours before he died. Picture: Supplied

Les McNabb just 11 weeks before he died. PIcture: Supplied

Dr Teo bought Les five more years with surgery but in December he died from a recurrence as going overseas wasn’t an option.

“I believe with all my heart that Les would still be here if we had access to Charlie,” Ms Barnwell McNabb said.

“The decision to stop Charlie operating in Australia is literally giving people early death sentences.

“Charlie has been crucified by cowardly colleagues suffering from professional jealousy. To stop him operating here is unethical, immoral, dangerous, and just plain wrong.”

She said when Dr Teo found out Les had a recurrence, he contacted the couple and offered to waive his fees.

“Charlie, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for every precious moment we got to have with Les,” Ms Barnwell McNabb said. “To those who tried to discredit Charlie and played a role in this atrocity. Shame on you.”

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