On New Year’s Day Georgie’s mum and dad noticed that Georgie’s belly button was coming in and out. They thought perhaps it might have been a hernia of some kind. A visit to their local doctor led to an ultrasound and then the phone call. Their doctor insisted they immediately come straight in for a meeting. George’s mum, Katie, shares their story,
The family’s GP told them Georgie had a tumour the size of a tennis ball. Two days later they were at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.
On 18 January, Georgie was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma. He started chemotherapy one week later.
Being told our son had the latest stage of neuroblastoma and that it only has a 50% survival rate was literally the worst news I think we will ever get. I cried for days; trying to come to terms with it. Early on I couldn’t even look at Georgie as I would just burst into tears knowing how happy he was and how sick he was going to get.
Georgie embarked on a treatment regime which included seven rounds of chemotherapy, two stem cell transplants and radiotherapy. Katie had to stop working so she could travel back and forth for appointments and care for Georgie as well as his sisters Lily (6) and Ava (4).
The thing that has made it a lot easier on us, as parents, is that he’s been just the best patient with every treatment he’s had. Except for the two transplants, they were so very tough on him.
Life remains very busy juggling appointments and childcare. George works as much as possible and they credit their own parents with stepping up to help their little family with school and kindergarten duties.
We need to raise awareness of this disease and raise money for research specifically for neuroblastoma. There needs to be a better survival rate for the kids and also awareness of what to look for with symptoms.
