'If I'd listened to doctors, I may not have my son with me'

“Go get a second opinion, a third, go get a fourth opinion until you’re completely satisfied."

Nine-year-old Fraser started to feel ill in April this year.

The Adelaide youngster got so sick his parents took him to their local doctor who diagnosed the boy with gastro.

It wasn’t long before Fraser was at the Flinders Medical Centre with dehydration, and doctors there confirmed he was suffering from gastro.

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But young Fraser just continued to get sicker and sicker.

“At this point he was saying ‘I feel dizzy, I feel sick’,” Fraser’s mum Simone told the Adelaide Advertiser.

“He wasn’t vomiting every day, he wasn’t having headaches every day.”

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Young Fraser with his mum Simone, dad Rob, and older brother Henry. Picture: The Advertiser

"They found a mass in his brain"

Fraser, who lives with conductive hearing loss, was taken to see an ENT who booked him in for surgery for grommets to relieve pressure behind his ears.

However, before the surgery was scheduled for August, Simone had marched her son back to hospital to demand something be done for her son.

What they found would change the family’s life.

“They did a CT scan and found a mass in his brain,” Simone said.

“I was in absolute, utter shock. I thought, ‘why wasn’t a scan done earlier?’ I had so many whys.

“You hear about it, but when it happens to you it’s heartbreaking.”

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Fraser, 9, has a brain tumour he's called ‘Bob the Blob’. Picture: Supplied

"You have to put all your trust in them"

Fraser was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a fast-growing, cancerous brain tumour.

He underwent an 11-hour operation shortly after his diagnosis to remove the tumour at Adelaide’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

“You have to put all your trust in them,” Simone said. 

“I just said, ‘our son’s life is in your hands, do whatever you can’.”

That surgery was just two weeks ago, and unfortunately Fraser has suffered complications.

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He developed posterior fossa syndrome, a condition that impacts about 25 per cent of children with medulloblastoma according to the Brain Tumour Charity.

Symptoms, which include reduced speech, irritability, unsteadiness and reduced coordination, will generally develop within days of their first surgery.

“It is gut-wrenching to see your child in this position,” Fraser’s dad Rob told the Adelaide Advertiser.

“Both Simone and I are keeping positive and also trying to keep normalcy for young Henry (Fraser’s brother), who we must not forget is impacted as well.”

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While doctors were able to remove some of Fraser’s tumour, the rest must be removed with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Picture: Supplied

"He understands that Bob is in his head"

The surgery also wasn’t 100 per cent successful, and Fraser still has some of the tumour in his brain, meaning he now faces radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Despite the challenges, Simone said Fraser was trying to stay positive about his situation, going as far as giving his tumour a name: ‘Bob the Blob’.

“He understands that (Bob) is in his head,” she said.

“He feels sick, but his doctors are going to take it out and that will make him feel better.”

Women’s and Children’s Hospital neurosurgeon Xenia Doorenbosch told The Advertiser Fraser was “so calm and brave” before his surgery.

“His parents told me that he felt better knowing that his favourite doctor, Dr Jake Nowicki will be in surgery with him,” she said.

“Despite how difficult it may be, his parents have approached the situation with a large dose of humour which feels to me like they have stayed true to themselves as a family and that has been nothing short of remarkable to be a part of."

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‘He’s getting strong so he’s not in here for long’ was Fraser’s motto while in hospital. Picture: Supplied

"I was searching for answers"

Simone said Fraser’s story was proof that parents should continue to advocate for their children when they’re unwell.

“Go get a second opinion, a third, go get a fourth opinion until you’re completely satisfied,” she said.

“That’s what I was doing, I was searching for answers, being told it’s anxiety, I’ve been told it’s gastro.

“If I had taken the word of other people I may not have my son with me.”

Originally published as 'If I'd listened to doctors, I may not have my son with me'