Meet twelve-year-old Riley!

Riley was an active, loving, and joyful nine-year-old. He had recently become a big brother, he loved school and playing with his friends.  But weeks of headaches and nausea led Riley to several doctor appointments and hospital visits.

“The hospitals kept sending us home, saying that Riley had gastro. But after so many visits, I finally demanded an MRI,” says mum, Ashleigh.

On February 1, 2021, Riley had an MRI, and his family were delivered with the terrifying and devastating news that there was a mass on his brain. Just five days later he was taken to surgery, and he was diagnosed with brain cancer – a medulloblastoma.

After the surgery, Riley had to spend three months relearning to eat and walk. “He was in a wheelchair, there was a lot of rehabilitation before we were able to go home.”

Then Riley started radiation and chemotherapy. “Radiation was every day for six weeks. Then we had one month before starting seven long months of chemotherapy.”

Riley’s mum says that this time was unimaginably hard. “We had to stay four nights in the hospital at a time because the chemotherapy made him so sick.”

The journey was rough for Riley, but he was determined. “I’ve never seen him so sick. No child should have to go through that.”

Riley’s family knows all too well how fast lives can be turned upside down. It was just five days between diagnosis, and being thrown into a world of cancer words, surgeries, scans, treatments, oncologists, and hospital wards.

With so little time to process the news, Ashleigh recalls having an extremely difficult time accepting that Riley had cancer. “It was quite full on trying to process everything, because as soon as the doctor said, “Oh, yep, Riley’s got a tumor in the back of the brain, you need to go to emergency.” I was like, “What?” My mind was just… I haven’t even had a chance to accept it, and really have emotion for it. It was just so quick to feel anything.”

In December 2021 Riley rang the bell – signifying that he had finished his treatment and in February 2022, his central line was removed. “He was so happy; it was such an emotional day for us all.”

Despite being in remission, Riley still must manage the lingering effects of cancer treatment. He goes to physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. Riley lives with palsy on the left side of his body but he is working diligently to regain strength. He’s getting stronger, but progress is slow and at times, frustrating.

Ashleigh learned about Camp Quality through the hospital and not long after, the family was off on their first Family Camp – their first family holiday in some time. “It was great. We absolutely loved it.”

The family spent the weekend canoeing, running around playing soccer and having fun together, creating new memories outside the hospital.

“We love coming to Family Camps, outings, and kids camp as we get to take the focus off home and hospital life and enjoy the outdoors and do fun stuff and meet families who have been through same or similar experiences. Thank you so much Camp Quality. Everyone is amazing.”

Riley has two little brothers that he loves to play with. Riley’s youngest brother was born while he was still going through chemotherapy. This meant that Ashleigh and her husband were faced with the daunting reality of juggling cancer treatment, Riley’s brother, and newborn.

Now, he has regular MRI scans to monitor his health and he sees the oncology team every three to six months. For now, he is excited about high school, and living the normal life of a teenage boy.