A Young Warrior's Fight Against Neuroblastoma

Braxton had always been a very caring and happy boy. My favourite thing about him was his smile and his ability to light up a room. Brax was very smart and quite reserved; it was almost like he was an old soul. He would sit back - watching - taking everyone and everything in.

Brax was diagnosed with High-Risk Stage 4 Neuroblastoma on Christmas Day, 2021. The cancer started in the adrenal gland and quickly spread to the chest, abdomen, pelvis and areas close to his spine. When Braxton was diagnosed it was a really hard time for us all to process. Adding to the complexity, we had our 1.5 year old who had to be in the care of her grandparents for the majority of Brax’s journey and I was pregnant with our youngest daughter.

The months following diagnosis, Brax was extremely unwell and we spent the majority of those first five months in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at The Royal Children’s Hospital. What followed was a whirlwind of blood donations, fluid overload to needing stents in both kidneys and being on full time oxygen support. After several months, Brax was strong enough to spend some days at home. So we came home on oxygen and became out-patients who visited day oncology. A huge win!