Sydney Gesualdi has no shortage of hobbies and interests.
“I love baking, hiking, running, reading and crocheting and knitting,” Sydney said.
She also likes journaling and enjoys travelling, noting she’s been to Europe alone and has been whitewater rafting in Ecuador.
Sydney described the activities that brought her joy while sitting on a couch in her parents’ home wearing a neck brace. A walker is close by.
“I always kind of felt like, for some reason, I was running out of time, and so that’s why I did so much, which partly I’m very grateful for, because obviously this has happened.”
What happened was Sydney was rear-ended at a red light at Wharncliffe Road and Byron Avenue on July 21, 2023.
At first, her injury appeared to be whiplash or a concussion, but after her condition deteriorated over several weeks, she was diagnosed with craniocervical instability (CCI). The rare condition causes instability where the skull meets the spine, leaving the neck unable to properly support the head.
The injury results in pressure on the spinal cord, leading to neurological problems that have left Sydney basically bed-bound, consistently fatigued, wearing a neck brace and requiring a cane, wheelchair or walker to get around when she can.
Although Sydney can “technically” still crochet and knit, she said her dexterity “has been so impacted that it’s really hard and challenging for (her) because of the fine kind of motor movements.”
Journaling has also become a trying activity for the McMaster University graduate.
“I can’t really write for longer than two minutes without my hand starting to lose feeling and it starts to have a lot of pain, so I can’t really do that anymore.”
And it’s not just physical endeavours that have become difficult for Sydney.
“Even reading, my cognitive issues are so intense that some days I can’t read, and the only way I can read is if I have an audio book playing at the same time to really help me follow along.”
She said the crash has “impacted my life not only physically but cognitively,” noting that if she exerts too much energy and reaches her daily limits, her condition further amplifies her struggles.
“Imagine being really hungover, mixed with having the flu and a mild concussion, and yes, all at the same time,” she said. “That’s how I feel every single day. But if I push myself, it’s like that times 10. . . I feel poisoned.”
Sydney lamented: “I sometimes don’t recognize my brain in a way. I miss the way my brain used to work. The brain that I lived with for 23 years before. I’ve had to almost adjust to this brain and body that is obviously very incapacitated.”
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Her life has changed in “every single way,” she said.
Sydney used to be very social, she said, adding she has become “isolated from the world” while her life has mostly been confined to the four walls of her parents’ house since the collision.
A portion of her 20s has essentially been on hold while her friends experience the milestones of young adulthood.
“My friends are getting engaged, they’re getting married, they’re travelling, buying condos with their partners, and it’s like I’m watching life happen behind glass, but I’m frozen. But I can still see the world around me. Everybody’s doing their thing, and it’s a hard feeling to describe.”
But there is a potentially life-changing operation for which Sydney is a candidate.
It’s called cranio-cervical fusion surgery, an operation that would fuse the base of her skull to the top of her spine. The family has met with several people whose lives have returned to almost normal, with some mobility loss, after the surgery.
Although the complex operation isn’t available in Canada, the procedure can be performed at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
However, at roughly $493,600, the operation is pricey.
After years of lobbying the provincial government for out-of-country OHIP coverage, Sydney has so far been denied the accommodation, a source of great frustration for the family.
An out-of-country procedure is a clinical decision determined by an Ontario doctor, Lily Barnes, a spokesperson for Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones, said in a Sept. 16 email statement. She said there are “specific requirements” that must be met before an Ontario resident can qualify for funding, including “ensuring the procedure is medically necessary.”
Added Barnes: “Once a clinician’s decision is made, patients are informed and provided with a summary of the decision.”
Sydney said staying positive is “really hard” and remaining optimistic can be tough. She described the process of trying to obtain the operation that could restore her life to what it was before the crash as angering.
“It’s hard, of course when each time you think you’ve made progress, another door is slammed in your face, or another person says no, or another thing is denied,” she added.
The unavailability of the operation in Canada and the lack of provincial government financial assistance to cover the cost of the surgery across the border led Sydney’s father, Joe Gesualdi, to launch the Miles 4 a Miracle fundraiser in August.
Sydney Gesualdi poses for a photo with her parents, Kim and Joe, at their home in London on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (Geoff Robins/The London Free Press)
Joe pushed Sydney’s empty wheelchair from London to Toronto in stages in an effort to raise funds for his daughter’s surgery and awareness of her plight.
He reached Queen’s Park on Sept. 16, where he gave a speech flanked by Sydney and London-Fanshawe MPP Teresa Armstrong.
“I had had enough. Enough of watching Sydney unable to bathe, unable to feed herself, or care for herself, when I knew a solution existed, just over the border (in the U.S.),” he said at the news conference. “(I) had enough of watching her suffer in pain, with no help from our Ministry of Health or OHIP, and silence from our health-care system.”
The Gesualdis’ fundraising efforts are paying off.
As of Sunday morning, the fundraiser had reached roughly $455,000 of its goal, leaving about $38,500 still to be raised.
Sydney feels “immense gratitude” that Joe and her mother, Kim Gesualdi, are willing to fight so hard for her while her condition has made it difficult to fully advocate for herself.
“I’m so grateful, but at the same time, it’s shameful that we have to do this in our province, and obviously that’s why it’s been challenging,” she said. “If the care was available here, why would my dad be doing this?”
With the fundraiser closing in on the donation target that will pay for Sydney’s operation after a years-long struggle, Kim said it has been difficult to watch her daughter’s condition worsen. But she sees a “glimmer of hope” for the future.
“It’s very challenging at the best of times to be hopeful,” Kim said. “But this is what we wanted to do with the fundraiser, kind of bring that hope back somewhere.”
Although Sydney said she hasn’t thought about it much, for the 27-year-old with a long list of hobbies and interests, it’s the little things she hopes to one day do again.
“Just (to) be able to walk around the block with my headphones in . . . nothing crazy, maybe I just want to drive myself to get ice cream because I can’t do that (now),” she said.
“In the moment, you don’t realize how significant and meaningful those experiences are until you are deprived of them.”
Born and raised in London, Brian Williams joined The Free Press in 2023 and has reported extensively on London and the region. His primary focuses are health care and Elgin County.
bwilliams@postmedia.com