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Harry has finally been given the go ahead to start playing soccer again ! by Lorna Gordon
Julia and Matthew Sammut have two amazing boys , Harry and Patrick , who love to hang out and do the normal things that young boys do . Everything was great until May 2022 when they were given the news that no parent wants to hear , Harry was sick .
After complaining about stomach pains and not being his usual energetic self , Julia took Harry to the doctor who recommended they look into it further .
After many tests and scans , Harry was diagnosed with stage 4 Neuroblastoma , which is a rare and deadly childhood cancer . His parents were devastated at being told the outcome of him surviving this cancer was low .
To give him the best chance , Harry started on chemotherapy to reduce the cancer , then went through surgery to remove the tumour on his right adrenal gland .
This was the beginning of an intense series of treatment for the young boy including bone marrow transplant , radiation and immunotherapy .
All of this took a toll on Harry , and his family , with lengthy hospital stays and dealing with the side effects of such harsh treatments to fight the cancer . Julia had to give up her job to be with her son , so on top of the worry about his health were the financial concerns of living on one income and still looking after Harry ’ s brother , Patrick .
When his therapies were coming to an end , Julia , began looking into other treatments to help Harry have a higher chance of a full recovery .
Her search took her to a hospital in New York , which specialises in treating Neuroblastoma and was trialling a vaccine , however she didn ’ t think
Harry was eligible for this particular trial . She dug a little deeper and crossed paths with a woman in Victoria whose son was getting treatment in the USA .
“ There was a lot of talk on the Neuroblastoma sites about a drug called DFMO ( Difluoromethylornithine ) which was not available in Australia . Through my contact I was able to contact the doctor in the USA and set up a video call with them to discuss the possibility of Harry being included in their trial and getting further treatment .”
Deciding to take Harry to the USA wasn ’ t an easy choice for Julia and Matthew . The trip meant they were taking their son overseas when he was already unwell , and his immune system was weakened and on top of that there was the cost involved .
After debating back and forth they decided the risk was worth it to give Harry the chance of recovery and started to fundraise to help with the costs involved .
Raising funds to make the trip possible was only one hurdle they had to get over , Harry had to go through even more scans and tests so the doctors in the USA had a baseline to measure the effects of the drug . The timeline was very tight to get the tests done and Harry to the USA .
“ We got on the flight for his first round of treatment without having all the tests results available to us . The doctors were confident that Harry would meet the requirements , but we only found out for sure after we landed in America .”
While you may think this is a risky action by the family , I would wager most of us would do exactly the same to ensure our child got the vital treatment they needed , and thankfully Harry ’ s results were
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6 ISSUE 112 // OCTOBER 2024 theindependentmagazine . com . au THE HILLS INDEPENDENT