A RESILIENT family has again been devastated by a return cancer diagnosis, just when they finally thought their lives were back to normal.
Five years ago, after Toby Watson, Natalie Hibberd and their three children Amy, Jacob and Thomas moved from Melbourne to Sunraysia, Thomas suddenly fell ill.
They thought the three-and-a-half-year-old had tonsillitis – it was in fact T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
Over the next 10 months Thomas had repeated rounds of chemotherapy, lumbar punctures, blood transfusions, blood tests and dressing changes, his concerned mother by his side at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne while his father and siblings stayed on edge more than six hours away.
The agonising separation was over when Thomas was able to return home on the AFL Grand Final weekend in 2018.
He endured two-and-a-half years of comprehensive occupational and speech therapy, and took regular Angel Flights to the Royal Children's for chemotherapy check-ups over 12 months.
His treatment was a success, the family were reunited, moved into a new home, and Thomas slowly but surely had the opportunity to enjoy being a kid again.
Fast forward to December 2022, and a routine blood test cruelly confirmed the family's worst fears – Thomas had relapsed.
"It was just a shock to all of us because we'd already been through it, so we knew what we were in for, being separated again," Mr Watson said.
"Obviously you get angry and sad and upset, you just think, where are we going with this?"
Thomas was whisked off to Melbourne immediately, and the now-nine-year-old underwent more rounds of intensive chemotherapy and radiation.
He also needed a life-saving bone-marrow transplant, one which his brother Jacob, 10, was able to supply in April.
"It was a bit scary at the time, I thought I could do to try and bring Thomas home," Jacob said.
"I really wanted him to be home, and I wanted to help out."
The Watsons' pain is visible in their eyes – Mr Watson, Amy and Jacob have been unable to see Thomas or Natalie for months at a time.
"The kids always want to go back but they've got school, and you've got to pay your mortgage, you've got to go to work,” Mr Watson said. “Life doesn't stop because your kid's sick.”
Thomas is about midway through his bone marrow treatment, which grafted successfully.
Jacob's bone marrow cells embedded into Thomas' bone and have started to grow.
Thomas developed pneumonia at the start of the transplant process, but fought through it.
The family expects he'll spend another three to four weeks in hospital, before spending more than a month in the nearby Bone Marrow House.
"And if everything's good then he can come home, but then he's got to go back to the hospital, I think it's once a month for 12-18 months," Mr Watson said.
"He's got to learn to eat again ... got to learn to walk again, so he's got to go through physio and things."
Thomas's siblings talk to him via video as often as possible to stay updated.
"We usually videocall him and talk to him and talk to mum, and he talks a lot (more) now than he used to, and he loves talking to us, same with mum," Jacob said.
Thomas' sister Amy, 13, launched a GoFundMe campaign in May to draw attention to her family's plight.
"Once my mum comes back she can't go back to work, so it will be really hard, she has to be my brother's full-time care-giver," Amy said.
"The reason why I did this because I wanted to help out, my mum and dad... I needed to do something."
Funds raised will initially help with Thomas' recovery, and the family intends to donate further proceeds to Redkite, the Bone Marrow Donor Institute, Angel Flight and to C.H.A.I.L.I.S.
Thomas' GoFundMe campaign can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/for-our-little-brother-thomas
