Ten-year-old Xander has been through more than most kids of his age – specifically, three-and-a-half years of gruelling chemotherapy to treat leukaemia.
Xander was five years old when the diagnosis was delivered.
“When they told us that he had some kind of cancer, we just were in shock,” mum Naomi Kerp said. “We couldn’t believe that it had happened and it was so fast. He didn’t have any symptoms and we were just so scared. We didn’t know what it would mean.”
She said Xander’s own attitude towards his treatment helped his family get through the next few years.
“Xander was so brave and so resilient all through his treatment. We took inspiration from him really, because he was such a trooper through it all.”
Leukaemia, which develops in the bone marrow, is the most common form of cancer in children.
Survival rates for children with leukaemia have improved dramatically over the past 50-60 years. Whereas in the 1950s there was no available treatment for the condition, these days the five-year overall survival is at 95 per cent for certain subgroups of leukaemia.
Several high-risk subgroups, however, remain difficult to treat and don’t have such positive outcomes.
The Kids leukaemia researcher Dr Rishi Kotecha said the improved survival rates were a testament to the difference research could make.
“Previously outcomes were really poor – particularly for the aggressive kind of leukaemia that Xander had – but now through research and improved treatment, the outcomes for these kids have really improved,” Dr Kotecha said.
“Much of our research now is focused on those high-risk leukaemias that still have poor outcomes.”
The Kids Research Institute Australia is working at a local, national and international level to try to further understand leukaemia and find and test new treatments.
“Locally we’re working in the lab on the pre-clinical aspects – finding new drugs and understanding the mechanisms that underpin the different kinds of leukaemia,” Dr Kotecha said.
“Nationally and internationally we’re collaborating and taking part in global clinical trials to put new discoveries to the test and see if they actually improve outcomes for children with cancer.
“The benefit we have is being able to conduct research in the lab and take part in these major clinical trials. Not everyone gets to do that, and (paediatric brain cancer researcher) Nick Gottardo and I are fortunate to have the opportunity to do both.”
It was one of these global clinical trials – accessed thanks to Dr Kotecha – that helped turn Xander’s health around. He finished chemotherapy last year and is now doing well.
“We just feel so lucky to live in Australia, in a country with such good health care and the research that they’re doing, because it is world class,” Naomi said.
“Our doctor, who is a researcher, was an angel to us – he gave us so much hope and we were able to be part of an international trial which used a new type of chemo drug, that turned out to be really successful.”
“It was a wonderful feeling and it’s such a long road, three-and-a-half years of chemotherapy, that when you reach the end it’s just this beautiful feeling that it’s finally over.”
Dr Kotecha said it was that kind of happy outcome which continued to drive him.
“The satisfaction for us is also seeing where families come from, to where they are now – that’s what keeps us going,” he said.