When five-year-old Vinnie complained of a sore knee and a cough, his parents took it seriously.
At first glance, the symptoms seemed minor. But for a child who had already survived leukaemia, they were enough to warrant further investigation.
The following day, Vinnie’s mum Marilo received a call from the doctor informing her that the cancer had returned.
“I was driving at the time and just started crying,” Marilo told Yahoo News.
She immediately rang her husband, Andrew, and told him to get Vinnie ready before the family headed straight to the Queensland Children’s Hospital’s emergency department.
Devastating diagnosis comes with hope of a cure
Vinnie wasn’t even two years old when he was first diagnosed with B-cell acute leukemia (B-ALL) in December 2022.
After more than two years of treatment, he reached remission and completed chemotherapy in February last year.
The new diagnoses, which came on May 26, revealed Vinnie had Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), which can lead to acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
To cure MDS, Vinnie will need a bone marrow transplant.
He has spent the past two weeks preparing for the transplant, while doctors search a global database for a match.
Joining the registry is as simple as completing an at-home cheek swab, while the actual process — if you’re a match for someone — is similar to donating blood.
“If you can, please join!” Marilo said.
“If they asked if I would have joined when I joined the organ donor register (when I got my licence), I would have signed up straight away.”
Anyone between the ages of 17 to 35 in good general health can join, with an additional push for donors of diverse backgrounds.
Patients are more likely to match with donors who share similar ethnic backgrounds, but Australia’s donor registry currently doesn’t reflect the diversity of our population.
Because of that, more than 80 per cent of Aussies needing a transplant receive stem cells from overseas.
Marilo added that if stem cell donation isn’t suitable, blood donation is another great initiative.
“Vinnie’s had 35 blood transfusions/products since the 18th of April. I can honestly say he wouldn’t be here without them,” she said.
To find out more about becoming a stem cell donor, click here.
Parents doing everything they can to be with their son
The family have temporarily moved to Brisbane, with Marilo and Andrew alternating nights with their son at accommodation set up by the Leukemia Foundation.
“It’s been emotionally insane,” Marilo said of the past few weeks.
“Cried with the relapse, gathered composure with ‘right, we can do this and beat it again’.
“Then found out it’s not quite B-ALL, but potential AML, which terrified us.”
Vinnie’s stay in the hospital hasn’t been a smooth one either, battling life-threatening sepsis of the bowels, a fungal blood infection, an enlarged liver and weeks of debilitating pain.
“He is so stoic, and I can honestly say he’s only complained twice about being hooked up to all the lines and being poked and prodded,” Marilo said.
“It is unreal what he’s been through and goes through. It’s a catch-22, because he grew up in a clinical setting for 2.5 years, he’s so used to everything and understands what’s coming, which makes treatments easier for him… but no kid at 5 should be so fluent in cancer treatment and hospital ways.”
Andrew has been off work since mid-April and has exhausted all his leave entitlements.
If he were to return to work, he would be unable to be by Vinnie’s side, as any viral infection picked up in the community could pose a serious risk to his son’s health ahead of the bone marrow transplant.
“Financially, it’s tight — really tight,” Marilo said.
“I do get a carer’s payment fortnightly, but bills, parking, meals and fuel eat that up pretty quickly.”
A friend of the family has launched a GoFundMe for Vinnie, to help with his cancer battle and to allow his parents to stay by his side and focus on their son.
To donate, you can find the GoFundMe here.
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This article originally appeared on Yahoo News Australia at https://au.news.yahoo.com/aussie-boys-sore-knee-leads-to-devastating-relapse-terrified-us-005446423.html
