Mum given months to live after children lost grandfather and dad
Melanie Nast Young and her family have been rocked by tragedy this year starting when her father died of lung cancer in March. Her business partner and father of her children, Todd Young, also suffered the same fate a few weeks ago.
Now, the 45-year-old has been given six months to live, while her loved ones are trying to raise funds for her four children, the youngest of which is only 7 years old. The children are struggling to deal with the news, according to her best friend Mischelle, as they’re still grieving their father’s death.
Amid all the tragedy of this year, Mischelle explained to 7 News that Melanie had been too preoccupied with looking after and grieving for her two loved ones to realise how sick she herself had become. She was hospitalised multiple times with pneumonia and later diagnosed with Alpha1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency, a genetic condition that causes lung and liver damage.
This deficiency increases her risk of chronic lung and liver conditions such as emphysema, which she was diagnosed with. As a result of all of this damage, Melanie’s lungs are currently operating at 25% capacity, with her dystonia exacerbating the problem.
Melanie’s condition is continuously deteriorating due to a rare genetic condition, dystonia, which the Australian native was diagnosed with dystonia 10 years ago. It is a movement disorder causes involuntarily body spams and contractions, as her friend Mischelle recalled seeing Melanie’s “leg turn all the way around”. There is no currently known cure for dystonia.
A lung and heart transplant could offer some hope but the surgery is laden with risk as her dystonia would make her recovery difficult if she survived the procedure. Mischelle revealed: “At best she might have six months but if she gets any type of illness in the interim, like we could lose her just from anything.”
Her close friend, Frank Prokop, has organised a GoFundMe for Melanie, and told 7 News he had originally set it up in the hopes of funding some items on her bucket list, but she is too unwell. Instead, the money will be going towards her children and her partner, with nearly $5,500 raised now.
Frank wrote on the page: “Melanie Nast Young is dying. There is no way to sugar coat it or pretend that it's not real. The best case scenario is that she gets a heart/lung transplant very soon, but the rare genetic condition that's been ticking away below her dystonia, is shutting down her organs and making this rescue surgery more unlikely by the day.”
Melanie is also a prominent figure in the Australian fishing community, where she has been teaching at-risk youth as well as kids and people with disabilities, for the past two decades t Young Guns Fishing Adventures alongside her coparent and cherished friend Todd, who fathered three of her children. He was also reportedly a father figure to her youngest daughter, who she welcomed with her current partner Jason.