Here is Lucie's "thank you note" of October 2004 in English. Thanks to Andy in Prague for his translation. Thanks to Victor in London for editing.
Thank You Note
To all friends and fans of LEA DE MAE
written by her sister Lucie Absolonova
Prague, Czech Republic, October 2004
To all of you who are carrying Lea in your hearts
First of all, I would like to thank you very much on behalf of Lea and myself for your help!
Every day, I read your messages and best wishes to Lea and I can say that what I see in her eyes is the indescribable words of thanks and even a far more craving and strength to fight for her life. And for this, we owe all of you.
For those of you who would like to know the whole process of her serious illness, I dare to write this short account.
My sister (Lea De Mae, to you) had suffered from big headaches for a long time and therefore she was treated for the blockage of her neck-spinal. The doctors treated her by prescribing mostly analgesics. They prescribed stronger and stronger analgesics but without any effect. This poor situation reached the point where Lea started to suffer from bad vision (her eyes became bad) and she also started to barely feel the left side of her body.
When the pain was completely unbearable and she couldn't stand any more on her own legs, the doctors sent her for a CT (Computer Tomography) examination - which revealed a brain tumour. The situation was seriously bad so Lea had to immediately undergo surgery.
The entire operation was performed by famous Professor Dr. Benes in the Military Hospital in Stresovice in Prague. Dr. Benes has carried out an unbelievably successful and clear operation. He succeded in removing all of the tumour except for one small piece which had already infiltrated into the brain, because by removing this small piece, it would have caused great danger to main vital and health functions.
A few days after operation, Lea was partially paralyzed on her left side, but after that, her condition started to improve and Lea was feeling better and better on both physical and psychological sides. As Lea was convalescing fast, we were lucky and enjoyed this.
And then, the shock came! The histological examination of the removed tumour revealed the worst form of brain cancer that can exist. Accordingly, with this bad news Lea's condition went again down with the same symptoms before the surgery. Lea immediately underwent radiotherapy and after a 2 weeks problem with the insurance company, also chemotherapy.
Now, we are awaiting to see how the tumour will respond to this therapy and we are trying to find, in case of need, any alternative treatment, which will save her life or at least make it longer.
I apologize that I cannot be in touch with you every day and inform you about Lea's current situation, but at this time, I devote all the time to my sister and I promise that if any change will occur, I will inform you.
Finally, I would like to give a big special thanks to Chris Danneffel, Monica Sweetheart and Oldrich Widman; they are all great standbys for my sister and all my family.
By Lucie Absolonova, Prague, October 2004.
Translation by Andy, Prague, 30 November 2004 (edited by Victor)
Vam vsem, ktery nosite mou sestru ve svych srdcich
Predem bych Vam chtela jmenem jejim a jmenem svym mnohokrat podekovat za Vasi pomoc!
Kazdy den ji ctu od Vas vzkazy a prani a muzu Vam rict, ze to co vidim v jejich ocich je nepopsatelny dik a mnohem vetsi chut bojovat o svuj zivot. A za to vdecime Vam vsem!
Pro ty kteri by radi znaly cely prubeh jeji zavazne nemoci jsem si dovolila napsat par radku.
Ma sestra (pro Vas Lea De Mae) po dlouhou dobu trpela velkymi bolestmi hlavy a byla lecena na zablokovanou krcni pater. Lekari ji predepisovali stale silnejsi a silnejsi prasky proti bolesti, ktere vubec nezabiraly.
Doslo to tak daleko, ze se ji zacal zhorsovat zrak a zacala cim dal mene citit levou stranu tela.
Kdyz uz se vubec neudrzela na nohou a mela jiz nesnesitelne bolesti, tak ji teprve doktori poslali na CT vysetreni a nasli ji nador na mozku. Situace byla jiz tak vazna, ze ji muesli ihned operovat.
Operace byla provenedena profesorem Benesem ve Stresovicke nemocnici v Praze, ktery provedl
neuveritelne zdareny vykon. Podarilo se mu odstranit vse krome maleho kousku, ktery byl jiz prorostly do mozkove tkane a jeho vyjmutim by byly ohrozeny zivotni funkce.
Par dni po operaci byla castecne ochrnuta na levou stranu tela, ale jeji stav se stale zlepsoval jak po psychicke tak po fyzicke strance. Meli jsme velikou radost z jejiho rychleho uzdravovani a doufali jsme , ze to nejhorsi jiz ma za sebou. A pak prisel ten SOK! Histologicky nalez ukazal, ze nador co ma je ten nejhorsi typ zhoubneho nadoru, ktery muze byt.
S touto zpravou se jeji zdravotni stav rapidne zhorsil a zacala mit stejne priznaky jako pred operaci.
Hned zacala podstupovat radioterapii a po dvou tydnech s problemy s pojistovnou i chemoterapii.
Ted vsichni cekame, na to jak nador zareaguje a snazime se najit v pripade potreby alternativni lecbu, ktera by zachranila nebo alespon prodlouzila jeji zivot.
Omlouvam se Vam,ze s Vami nemohu byt kazdy den v kontaktu a informovat Vas o jejim zdravotnim stavu, ale v tuto tezkou chvili venuji vsechen cas sve setre a slibuji Vam, ze pokud nastanou nejake zmeny, tak Vam dam ihned vedet.
Na zaver bych chtela dat specialni dik Chris Danneffel, Monica Sweetheart a Oldrich Widman, kteri jsou velkou oporou me setre a cele me rodine!
By Lucie Absolonova, Prague, October 2004