Horror diagnosis after 25yo Aussie woman starts losing sight and hearing

Jessica Giczey was 25 when she mysteriously started to lose her hearing and vision - but nothing prepared her for the diagnosis that came next.

A young woman who found out she had terminal cancer while working at the happiest place on earth has revealed how another tumour inspired her high school sweetheart to propose.

Jessica Giczey, 25, was working at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, when she mysteriously started to lose her vision and hearing.

She tried to get answers while in the US but hit dead ends and was put off by the idea of huge medical bills and the fear of “being dramatic”.

But, after arriving home to Perth, she eventually discovered she had an aggressive form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma.

Treatment helped shrink the tumour and while doctors never gave Jessica a timeline, her insurance company said she only had a life expectancy of 12 to 14 months.

However, Jessica has now been fighting her cancer for three-and-a-half years, taking it one day at a time.

Jess Giczey was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma. Picture: Supplied

“I think only five per cent of patients make five years and now I’m at about three and a half years,” Jessica told news.com.au.

“I say it’s a bit like a tightrope, because it’s like you want to be happy and excited but you also want to be realistic.”

Jessica said she embraces the days where she can go about her normal life but has to be patient when she can barely get up and move around.

Since her diagnosis, Jessica has ups and downs, with another tumour being discovered on her brain in May last year.

“I was cooking dinner one night, and I don’t know, I was getting like really overwhelmed over something when Kilian came into the room,” she said.

“I tried to explain to him and I couldn’t speak, like I physically couldn’t form the words, so then we both started panicking a bit.”

She was working at "the happiest place on earth" when she began to feel unwell. Picture: Supplied

Jessica thought she was just flustered so the pair sat down for dinner but when Jessica still couldn’t speak, they drove to the emergency room of the hospital Jessica goes to for her treatment.

A CT scan didn’t show anything but an MRI the following day showed another tumour had grown underneath the existing one – however this time it was on the Pons, which is the part of the brain that controls involuntary functions such as sleeping, eating and breathing.

Doctors said radiation could shrink the tumour but it could have side effects that could impact her speech, among other things, forever. But, if she did nothing the tumour would grow and the same thing could happen.

“It was scary. But in my mind, I’m like, ‘well, if it’s going to happen anyway, I might as well just give it a shot’,” Jessica said.

Her fate was sealed when blips were discovered on her spine when she was preparing for radiation – more cancer.

“Doctors couldn’t radiate like my whole spine and my head straight away, so I did another type of chemo for a little bit,” she said.

“And then the one on my brain started growing, and that’s when they were like, ‘Okay we need to focus on that one’.”

A second tumour saw her high school sweetheart, Kilian propose. Picture: Supplied

Jessica ended up having to do four weeks of radiation following the discovery of the tumour that was not responding to other treatment.

But, it sparked another conversation between her and her partner Kilian about marriage – the same one they’d had the first time she was diagnosed.

“We talked about it, and I was like ‘no, like we’d always said we’d live together first and like, I don’t want to rush into it just now that I have cancer’,” Jessica said.

But when the second tumour developed, the pair had been living together, and they decided they would take that next step.

Their proposal was unique, with Kilian getting down on one knee on the side of the road after lunch with Jessica’s family.

“Another snap lockdown was announced, and Kilian pulled over to the side of the road,” she said.

“I kind of knew what was happened but I didn’t want to get my hopes up – but then he proposed.”

The couple pulled together a wedding in six weeks with the help of friends and family, having a wedding of 60 due to constricted budgets.

The pair pulled a wedding together in six weeks. Picture: Supplied

Jessica had been studying taxation law when she was diagnosed and has been unable to work since.

However, she describes it as a fantastic day she wouldn’t change for anything, getting lucky with the weather and getting to celebrate her love with her high school sweetheart.

Jessica has decided to share her story to support Canteen, an organisation developed to help young people and their families touched by cancer.

She said the community is what helps her so much, and a place to go where people understand what she is going through.

Jess takes her cancer one day at a time. Picture: Supplied

“I was being a little slow in the leadership meeting the other day, and I joked it was what brain cancer did to you. It would be a morbid joke anywhere else,” she said.

“But one of the other girls turned to me and commented how good it was to say those kinds of things around people who understood it.”

Jessica said being unable to work meant she had as much time as possible to give back to the place that had helped her through, and bring it to the attention of others who may be going through similar circumstances.

Jess is an ambassador for Canteen’s Bandanna Day which is on Friday October 28, raising vital funds to help ensure no young person has to experience cancer alone.

You can buy a bandanna or sign up for a ‘cut, colour or cover’ hair dare at bandannaday.org.au