Ben Jensen lives with his family on a property on the outskirts of Scottsdale and is a full time carer for his wife Kerry.
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He took on the position eight years ago, after she was diagnosed with a seven-in-one-million autoimmune disease known as dermatomyositis.
However, more than a year ago things took a turn and Mr Jensen was diagnosed with his own health issue - a stage-two glioma brain tumour.
It was November 18 and he had just begun working on needed house extensions for his family, to give his three sons more space as they share a room.
"I had pretty severe headaches and they sent me into Launceston," Mr Jensen said.
"They sent me for a CT scan which showed what they thought was a bleed on the brain and then they sent me for quick MRI, which turned out to be an hour and a bit long.
"Then later that night they told me I had a brain tumour."
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Since his diagnosis he has been travelling back and forth between his home and Hobart for specialist visits, as well as caring for his wife and starting the extensions.
He was scheduled to undergo surgery in Melbourne back in May, but due to COVID-19 the surgery was pushed back.
This month a new date of January 5 was set, where surgeons at the Royal Melbourne Hospital will attempt to remove some of the three-centimetre tumour.
The Scottsdale community is rallying around the 36-year-old and his family as they look to finish needed house extensions and to cover costs of their trip to Melbourne for the surgery.
A GoFundMe page was set up by a family friend to help cover costs of Mrs Jensen's week long stay in Victoria, alongside her husband, and a call was put out to ask if any builders or tradespeople could donate their time to help with the extensions.
Mr Jensen said he felt very blessed for the support, but he wanted the focus to be on raising awareness and funds for brain cancer.
He said he wanted anymore funds to go to finding a cure at curebraincancer.com.au and the Brain Tumour Alliance Australia support organisation.
"It's really a huge blessing to know that they're looking out for us, it's not something I expected," he said.
Due to the part of the brain the tumour is in, the surgery to remove it is a very delicate process. Mr Jensen said it was likely he would have some weakness in the left side of his body after it.
As a result he is rushing to get all the framework up before the surgery.
"I want to get all the framework up before I go so all the heavy lifting and all the major bits of construction are done," he said.
"it's in my motor cortex, so it's not the best place to be because that controls the left side of my body.
"It all depends on how the operation goes.
"If they can get some of it out, without too much damage, they will, but I'll probably end up with a lot of weakness down the left side for a fair while afterwards, from what I'm told, and there's a good chance that it might all disappear and not come back."
So far the fundraiser has raised $4000 for the family.
Mr Jensen said they had not figured out what would happen in regards to care for his wife after the surgery, as it was all dependent on how the surgery went.
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Isobel Cootes
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
