Cancer survivor, 11, suffers debilitating stroke during Covid lockdown
Friends and family are rallying around an 11-year-old cancer survivor from Victoria who has been left confined to a wheelchair after suffering a stroke during the state’s Covid-19 lockdown.
Zac, who lives with parents Sally and Joel and teenage sister in Boronia – about an hour’s drive east of Melbourne, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer when he was just three-and-a-half years old.
He had been throwing up for a few months in 2012 and by the time he was diagnosed the cancer had spread to his spine.
The little boy underwent surgery on the brain tumours, seven rounds of chemotherapy, and radiation on an inoperable tumour on his pituitary gland and the cancer on his spine, his aunt, Nicole, told Yahoo News Australia on Friday.
As a result, he was left with developmental delays and had to relearn how to walk. He also suffered permanent moderate hearing loss and wears hearing aids.
He briefly lost his eyesight, but it later returned.
“It was really bad, he was having all these things done to him and he couldn’t tell what was going on,” Nicole said.
He finished treatment around his fifth birthday, which was celebrated with a surprise visit from some members of his favourite football club, the Hawthorn Hawks.
In the years that followed, Zac began attending a specialised school and the family’s life settled into what could be called their new normal.
However, this year dealt another blow to Zac when he suffered a stroke in August during the state’s strict Covid-19 lockdown.
Family needs a mobility car
It’s believed he suffered the stroke in the middle of the night and his dad rushed him to hospital the next morning when he noticed the 11-year-old’s walk was off.
Zac and his mum, Sally, spent the following 11 weeks straight in hospital, and sometimes in complete isolation.
The pair were able to finally return home three weeks ago, but the incident has once again left Zac confined to a wheelchair and having to learn again. The stroke also affected his movements in one arm.
Sally has given up work to be her son’s full-time carer, but with him needing to use a wheelchair for the foreseeable future, the pair are essentially in lockdown again at their home because she can’t lift him into the car.
Family and friends are now rallying to raise the $70,000 it costs to buy a second-hand wheelchair mobility car that has a ramp Zac can use.
He will also be able to remain in the wheelchair safely strapped in, allowing him and the family to travel more easily.
Nicole told Yahoo News Australia Sally and Zac had never asked for anything, and have spent their time raising money for brain cancer charities, so their loved ones wanted to help out.
At the time of writing, the family’s GoFundMe has raised just over $15,000 and they hope to hit their target by next year.
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