When Constanza Isabel Guerra Parada — known to her friends as Connie — first noticed bruising on her arms and legs last month, she brushed away any real concern.
Her part-time cleaning job at the Mercure Sydney involves “very rough” work and she assumed she had simply been banging into things while working.
But when the 31-year-old Chilean national from Santiago noticed her lower gums were inflamed, she booked a dentist appointment.
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She had not been for a checkup since moving to Australia in March 2023 to study English and marketing in Sydney — where she met fellow Chilean, 24-year-old Isidora Becerra Quezada.
The pair soon became “inseparable” but were unaware just how much Guerra Parada would come to rely on Becerra Quezada for support after the diagnosis that would soon change her life.
Guerra Parada’s “inflammation never stopped,” Becerra Quezada told 7NEWS.com.au.
“One Sunday when she woke up, her gums were completely swollen and her palate was in great pain when eating. She made an appointment with the dentist for the next day.”
The dentist sent her to a GP, who sent her to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital emergency room on August 1.
“When we arrived at the hospital, we only thought that it was a case of stress,” Becerra Quezada said.
“The next afternoon, they gave her the diagnosis — she had leukaemia.”
Guerra Parada began chemotherapy two days later for acute myeloid leukaemia, with her medical team deeming inpatient care and close monitoring “essential”.
Just one week before she her diagnosis, Guerra Parada had booked a short trip home to see her family in Chile. before her studies resumed.
But now instead of planning her holiday, she was cancelling it and trying to work out how best to tell her family of her diagnosis.
“First, she told her brother about her illness so that he could help her tell her mother,” Becerra Quezada said.
Her mother and brother are now saving money and organising visas so they can travel to Sydney to care for Guerra Parada.
Treatment threatens visa status
Guerra Parada’s doctors advised her the treatment plan could take up to eight months.
But her health insurance will cover only six weeks of that and funds are running low due to the 25-hour work limits which are a requirement of her student visa, allowing her to remain in Australia until March 2026.
Becerra Quezada has created a GoFundMe to help raise funds for her friend’s ongoing treatment once her insurance period ends.
But even her stay in Australia is threatened by another visa demand that requires Guerra Parada to attend all of her classes — something that has suddenly become impossible.
“She is very weak and connected 24/7 to an IV machine giving her medications, nutritional supplements, and blood infusions,” Becerra Quezada said.
“The medications and chemotherapy are not showing good results … first it started with an allergic reaction all over her skin, and now it is infected by something because the antibiotics are not having much of an effect, either.”
Because Guerra Parada has not been living in Chile for years now, she also does not have health insurance to ensure adequate treatment there.
As she grapples with the abrupt end to her professional dreams, the loss of her beloved long hair, and the question of her mortality, she now also fears an abrupt pause to her treatment in Australia and the possibility of completing it within Chile’s public health system.
“For her safety, we would prefer that this process be finished in Australia,” Becerra Quezada said.
Parada’s education providers will need to officially approve the deferral of her studies for her to legally remain in the country for the remainder of her treatment, the Department of Home Affairs told 7NEWS.com.au.
“If a student has an approved deferral, students are not in breach of their visa conditions,” it said.
If her visa status is maintained, she will just need to foot the bill for the majority of her treatment — a daunting mission itself.
“With the help she will receive from you, she will be able to fight cancer in better conditions and be able to be with her family in this very sad and challenging time,” Becerra Quezada wrote on the GoFundMe.