Te Anau toddler given 50% chance to live after cancer diagnosis
Tuesday, 10 May 2022
Four weeks ago, Te Anau toddler Luka Pascoe started to limp. Two weeks later Luka, 18 months, was diagnosed with cancer and started his first round of chemotherapy on Monday.
His parents Katelyn and Toby were told Luka had a high-risk stage three cancer of neuroblastoma and because of the level it had spread through his body he had a 50-50 chance of living.
“About probably four weeks ago he started have a limp and struggled to walk … and then over another week it progressed to not being able to walk at all,” Toby said.
After a couple of days of tests during the Easter weekend at Southland Hospital, it was revealed Luka had a tumour in his stomach that was attached to his kidneys.
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“They found the main tumour and then once he had a CT scan and further tests in Christchurch, they found tumours in both legs and his bone marrow … so it’s spread throughout the lower part of his body,” Toby said.
Little Luka had a minimum of 14 months of treatment, possibly longer, and was currently being treated at Ronald McDonal House in Christchurch.
“It’s quite a common cancer found in infants and young children … so it’s the highest type of cancer you can get,” Toby said.
The doctors told the family that if Luka was an adult with this diagnosis, he would have been shifted straight to palliative care and that there would be no treatment, he said.
The couple have been feeling heartbroken about the shocking diagnosis and has been finding it hard to learn more about statistics related to children with cancer.
“We’ve obviously done a lot of research since then and about 150 children each year in New Zealand get diagnosed with cancer … so one every second day,” Toby said.
The parents have started an online blog called Luka’s Journal to trace his journey with cancer because they believe it could help other parents as well as show Luka what he had gone through in the future.
“The reason for the journal is so that if he does get through this, so he can look back as he grows up because the consequences of chemotherapy are not just vomiting or short-term consequences … there are a lot of longtime consequences that are quite severe,” Toby said.
Dozens of parents from Aotearoa and the rest of the world has reached out to the Pascoes.
Luka is known to be a happy little guy with a bit of an adventurous streak.
Toby and Katelyn are an active pair and Luka joined them in hiking small parts of the Routeburn and Kepler tracks.
“He just loves being outdoors, going on a kayak, going on a jet-ski, going on the boat … he loves daycare … and he loves being out with his friends and meeting new people.
“He’s won over the doctors and nurses at the hospital, he loves giving them high-fives and fist-bumps … he’s just an absolute … happy kid,” Toby said.
A GoFundMe page has been set up in Canada by a family member and on June 11 a fundraiser will be held at the Invercargill Workingmen’s Club to help the family with medical costs and travels costs between Te Anau and Christchurch.