Mum of Charlie Teo’s ‘miracle girl’ diagnosed with terminal cancer

Monica Smirk found lumps on her back two years ago when her 14-year-old daughter Milli was fighting for her life, but the Perth mum was too upset to get a biopsy.

Pilar Grace

2 min read

July 23, 2023 - 3:49PM

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Monica Smirk has had more than her fair share of heartache.

In 2016, her nine-year-old daughter Amelia “Milli” Lucas was diagnosed with a rare genetic cancer and was told she only had 12 weeks to live.

Thanks to two surgeries by controversial neurosurgeon Charlie Teo, Milli survived until 2021, when she turned 14.

Now Monica has revealed that she’s dying from cancer that’s a result of the same syndrome that claimed her mum, brother, niece, nephew and her little girl Milli.

The Perth woman’s family has a rare genetic syndrome called Li-Fraumeni syndrome; there are only 1000 people in the world with the condition and it comes with the risk of several types of cancer.

Monica told the West Australian Sunday Times that she first noticed lumps on her back in 2021, but at the time Milli was dying, and she couldn’t cope with the possibility that she was sick too.

The mum decided not to get a biopsy.

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Milli was diagnosed with terminal and given 12 weeks to live before she met Dr Charlie Teo. Photo: supplied

Milli Lucas’ mum has terminal cancer

Monica's tumours are inoperable, and when doctors found fluid in her lungs, they stopped other treatments.

She explained that she might have more treatment options later in the year, but for now they have to wait.

Monica’s health isn’t the family’s only concern. Milli’s older sister Tess is waiting for test results from a potentially concerning annual scan.

Tess has the same syndrome and suffered from a brain tumour in 2016 which left her legally blind.

Dr Charlie Teo removed 98% of a brain tumour that other surgeons called "inoperable". Photo: supplied

Dr Charlie Teo’s miracle girl

When Milli was given only a few months to live, her parents Monica and Grant were willing to try anything to save their girl.

In 2019, Dr Charlie Teo removed 98 percent of the brain tumour other surgeons said was inoperable.

Instead of going into palliative care, Milli had two more years with her family and became Dr Teo’s “miracle girl”.

In spite of his incredible work with Milli, Dr Teo faces reprimand by the NSW Medical Board after being found guilt of unsatisfactory professional conduct relating to two “catastrophic surgeries” on other patients in 2018 and 2019.

The medical standards committee found he operated on patients “where the risk of surgery outweighed any potential benefits of the surgery”.

He was also found guilty of not obtaining informed consent from the patients before their surgeries, and for charging an “inappropriate” fee of $35,000.

It’s not the first time Dr Teo has faced a standards committee. In 2021 there was a separate investigation into misconduct. One of the conditions following the investigation was that Dr Teo must request written permission from a Medical Council-approved neurosurgeon to do risky surgeries.

At the time, Monica said she was devastated.

“Nothing was ever going to save Milli,” she told news.com.au.

“We all knew that but he gave us an extra few years – she wouldn’t have had that and we wouldn’t have had that without him.”