GoFundMe launched to help Gympie kid Khan Thoroughgood fight cancer

A Gympie high school student diagnosed with bone cancer a week out from his birthday is fighting to get out of hospital and back to the sports field and the race track.

Khan Thoroughgood is one of the junior stars at the Gympie Speedway.

The Gympie community has thrown its support behind a family whose lives were shaken up when their youngest son, an aspiring speedway driver, was diagnosed with bone cancer in 2022.

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James Nash State High School student Khan Thoroughgood has been a member of the Gympie Speedway and a competitive athlete for Gympie Devils junior rugby league and Valleys cricket club.

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Khan was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, in his right leg just a week before his 15th birthday in October, 2022. He has been in and out of the Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane ever since.

Now on his second round of chemotherapy and due to have surgery at the start of February 2023, his father Gavin Thoroughgood said the family was in disbelief when they heard the diagnosis.

“It’s not something that plays on your mind really until it happens,” he said.

“It’s a bit surreal.”

Mr Thoroughgood said his son had not lost his sense of humour and had a strong mindset to get back on the Gympie Speedway in time for his final junior season.

Khan Thoroughgood is a junior sedan driver at the Gympie Speedway. Photo: contributed.

Mr Thoroughgood, a salesman at Lifestyle 4x4 Gympie, and Khan’s two older siblings visit him in Brisbane whenever they can.

Mum Toni Thoroughgood has temporarily closed her business, Ton’z Hair and Makeup, to drive Khan to Brisbane for his appointments.

The two can only return home to Gympie every couple of days, Mr Thoroughgood said.

To support the family, one of Mrs Thoroughgood’s clients, Rita Browne, launched a GoFundMe to relieve some of the financial burden on the family.

While most medical expenses are covered by health insurance, the family has to pay for travel expenses out of their own pocket and lost Mrs Thoroughgood’s source of income.

Mr Thoroughgood said the “kind gesture” from the community was not something the family had expected and they were “very grateful and appreciative” for the immense help.

Several Gympie sport clubs have been in touch with Khan to check in and see how he has been going, including the Gympie Speedway, Gympie Devils Junior Rugby League and the Valleys Cricket Club.

Passionate for the adrenaline and speed, Khan has been a member of the Gympie Speedway since he was 10 years old and is one of the few rear-wheel drivers left in his junior class.

Khan Thoroughgood started competing at the Gympie Speedway when he was 10 years old.

“He was only a squirt when he started, couldn’t see over the steering wheel,” Mr Thoroughgood said.

Khan drives a 1982 Datsun Sunny and dreams to drive sprintcars one day and move on to the senior classes.

Mr Thoroughgood said it was lucky the tumour had been found before the cancer spread to other areas and following surgery, his leg is expected to recover without the need of prosthetics.

As of Wednesday, January 11, 2023, $3665 has been raised to help the family.

You can donate here at GoFundMe.