ALL Hugo Prosser’s family wants for Christmas is a cure for childhood cancer.
Hugo of Caringbah South was just 10 months old when he was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma after doctors found five large tumours — some the size of peaches — in his body.
Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, became Hugo’s home as he had bouts of gruelling chemotherapy and surgery.
‘‘Hugo lost all of his hair but was otherwise in really high spirits and very resilient,’’ said his mother Jane.
Now six, Hugo eventually returned home to his mum, dad Jason, and older brothers, Alfie, 10, and Rex, 8.
Life became a new kind of normal for the family. They went to Disneyland, Hugo started kindergarten this year at Burraneer Bay Public School and he even began playing Oztag.
‘‘We never thought he would walk, let alone go to school,’’ Mrs Prosser said of Hugo, who lost a kidney in the treatment (which eradicated 95 percent of the cancer) and relies on medication to control his high blood pressure.
In 2012, Hugo was chosen as a face of Sydney Children’s Hospital’s Gold Week Telethon. More recently, the Children’s Cancer Institute asked Hugo to appear in its advertising campaigns.
His case featured in medical literature after his oncologist wrote a paper about Hugo’s treatment, published recently by the American Academy of Paediatrics.
All the while, the shadow of cancer remained over the family.
Doctors regularly monitored the tumours, which until recently had continued to grow only slowly.
But the family’s life was turned upside-down again after routine scans showed a growth near his spine had spread.
‘‘Our oncologist said ‘We are really worried about his spinal tumour, we need to talk about chemo and surgery’,’’ Mrs Prosser said. ‘‘The bottom dropped out of our world for a second time.’’
Doctors spent the next couple of days considering the best course of action before deciding not to proceed with treatment at this stage.
‘‘Yes, his tumours are still growing, now at a rate faster than he is growing, but it seems to be benign growth,’’ she said.
‘‘We need to address it in the next two years.
‘‘He is never going to be cancer-free but he has a great quality of life and hopefully we get many more years together.’’
Mrs Prosser said Hugo knew he had cancer but rarely spoke of it: ‘‘he just takes it in his stride’’. They are equally honest with their older children about his condition, sometimes with heartbreaking results.
‘‘When we had the recent scare, I sat down and talked to Alfie and Rex about it,’’ Mrs Prosser said.
‘‘They were really upset and sad. Now, when I say to Alfie, ‘what do you want for Christmas?’ he says ‘I just want my brother to be healthy’.’’
With such an uncertain future, Mrs Prosser said research by the Children’s Cancer Institute offered hope there may one day be a cure for childhood cancers and urged people to make a donation this Christmas.
HOPE FOR A BREAKTHROUGH
The Children’s Cancer Institute says three Australian children die from cancer each week: ‘‘We believe that three’s too many,’’ its website says.
‘‘Institute researchers have undertaken pre-clinical studies on a new targeted drug, CBL137, which resulted in the highest levels of response we have ever seen in our laboratory models of neuroblastoma.
‘‘Planning has commenced for a first-phase clinical trial of CBL137 for children with refractory cancers.
‘‘When used on its own or in combination with conventional therapy, CBL137 could be a highly promising new approach to managing the growth of neuroblas-toma tumours.’’
Details/donations: ccia.org.au