'There's always a chance': Perth boy beats tumour odds

There’s good news for the little Perth boy who’s been fighting an aggressive brain tumour.

Edric Ho’s parents re-mortgaged their home to send their son to the US for pioneering new treatment not available in Australia.

Now little Edric is officially in remission, with his latest MRI scan confirming the good news.

“It just gives us a sense of hope, that he can progress from here and look for a new year, a brighter new year,” Edric’s dad Edwin said.

It’s been two years since Edric was diagnosed with the aggressive brain tumour that affects just one child in WA a year.

Doctors had warned the Ho family that proton therapy in the US was Edric’s best chance of survival, at a cost of $200,000.

The Ho’s got their son to Florida, and then prayed for a good outcome.

“It’s a testimony for others that if you’ve got hope, there’s always a chance that you’ll be cured,” Mr Ho said.

In more good news for the family, the federal government eventually agreed to pay the cost of Edric’s treatment.

The four-year-old is now cancer free, but the anxiety never ends for his mum and dad.

“He has hearing loss, he has speech delay, he has a delay in motor skills but he’s happy,” mum Rochelle Ho said.

“He’s living here, enjoying life.”

Given Edric’s little body has been through so much, he still needs MRI scans every four months for the next few years.

“(Rochelle) calls it ‘scan-xiety’,” Mr Ho said. “Anxiety over having the scan.”