Tyler and Alix, parents to one-year old Harris (or Hazzy), were living fulfilling lives in Hobart. So, when they took their baby, who had been unsettled for a few weeks, to the hospital, they never imagined their world was about to be turned upside down. Tyler shares their story,
The paediatrician who attended to Hazzy realised something wasn’t right and ordered a biopsy – the results that came back were every parent’s worst fear – Hazzy had a cancerous growth in his abdomen that turned out to be neuroblastoma.
Hazzy’s diagnosis left the family reeling in shock, made worse by the news that Hazzy’s neuroblastoma couldn’t be treated in Hobart. A relocation to Melbourne for the next eighteen months was the only option for Hazzy to receive treatment.
Over the next twelve months Hazzy underwent multiple rounds of high-dose chemotherapy, two rounds of surgery, two stem cell transplants and radiotherapy. After the initial shock and the move of states, the toughest part for his family was watching him endure the side effects of this protocol for treatment.
The effects of chemotherapy in particular are mind blowing and very affecting. To see your child like that is something that you cannot unsee.
Hazzy is currently undergoing his 4th round of six rounds of immunotherapy treatment, and will soon be receiving a new drug called DFMO which helps reduce the risk of relapse and which has recently become accessible due to campaigning by Neuroblastoma Australia. Both of these treatments are the result of decades of funding for research and clinical trials that eventually become part of treatment for every child like Hazzy.
It’s so important to help continue to raise the vital funds to continue the research into fighting this horrific disease. The most innocent of us are those affected and for everyone involved life will never again be the same.
