Charlie Teo: Parents plead for the choice to get neurosurgeon’s help

They flew to Spain so Dr Charlie Teo could remove their 10-year-old son’s brain tumour. Now a Sydney couple is pleading for authorities to allow the neurosurgeon to operate in Australia again so he can help other families just like them.

A couple who took their 10-year-old boy to Spain to be treated by Charlie Teo are heartbroken and furious that other parents may never have the choice to seek the help of the controversial ­neurosurgeon.

Having returned to their Leppington home earlier this month, just weeks after Cooper’s surgery, Jad and Ilana Chahine reached out to The Saturday Telegraph to share their story in the hope that medical authorities will reverse the restrictions placed on Dr Teo.

The couple went in search of answers after witnessing their soccer-loving son repeatedly struck down by debilitating migraines.

Doctors discovered the headaches were caused by an allergy to proteins in cow’s milk and chicken eggs but brain scans also showed something much more sinister – a brain stem glioma.

“We were unlucky but so very lucky to find the brain stem tumour by chance within the same weeks that we found the allergy that was causing the migraines,” Mr Chahine said.

Cooper Chahine (second from left) was operated on by Dr Charlie Teo in Spain recently. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“When we received the pathology report it threw our world upside down. After speaking to our family doctor we went in search of neurosurgeons.”

Mr and Mrs Chahine were told this type of brain stem tumour was generally inoperable although, because it was to the outside of the brain stem, doctors were willing to operate to try to remove it.

Cooper with neurosurgeon Dr Charlie Teo.

Sydney neurosurgeons advised the family they should also speak to the oncology department even though the tumour was believed to be benign at that stage – because at best 80 per cent of the tumour could be removed and chemotherapy would be necessary.

“Over the following 18 months we had MRIs to establish if it was growing – and it was,” Mr Chahine said.

During one of Cooper’s last consultations Mr Chahine questioned the surgeon and said: “You’re not giving me any confidence to risk a healthy boy’s life with a surgery that you say may result in him being possibly disabled or never breathing on his own, with a 50 per cent chance of a stroke – all to remove majority of the tumour and Cooper will still need chemo”.

“I had zero confidence so I got agitated at the situation, continued to question, which was met with: ‘OK, let’s wait another six months, we don’t need to rush into the surgery yet’,” Mr Chahine said.

Cooper underwent Dr Teo’s surgery in Madrid.

The 10-year-old is now recovering well.

“We were continually told to go in search of other opinions but when we asked why we needed other opinions that’s when the surgeon said to me that some people are really experienced at high risk surgery and some aren’t.

“The surgeons then proceeded to say: ‘There used to be a surgeon named Charlie Teo but then he started charging people their mortgage, that’s why none of them support him any more’.”

All Mr Chahine heard was the name “Charlie Teo”.

“We were on a mission to find him,” he said.

The couple did their research and soon learned restrictions had been placed on Dr Teo by the Medical Council of NSW after complaints from other doctors.

Dr Teo was ordered to get a supporting opinion from a fellow neurosurgeon before operating on recurrent cancerous brain tumours and brain stem tumours.

As no doctors have been willing, the temporary conditions effectively mean he cannot operate in Australia.

“To be honest, originally there was no way we were taking Cooper out of Australia but we wanted to get his opinion,” Mr Chahine said.

Dr Teo was “very direct and matter of fact” based on the MRI scans. He told the couple to record the conversation then went through the pros and cons of doing nothing, the pros and cons of operating.

He said that if they decided to put their boy through chemotherapy for a tumour that was “a 95 per cent chance of being benign” they should see another surgeon.

After explaining the high risk nature of the surgery he told the couple he was the most experienced surgeon in brain stem gliomas possibly worldwide.

“When my wife and I walked out of there, we actually didn’t really speak at first but when we did, both with tears in our eyes, agreeing no one else can touch our Cooper except this man,” he said.

Cooper Chahine recovering from his surgery in Madrid.

Cooper now does rehab to aid his recovery. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Mr Chahine said his family was willing to do whatever was needed to fund the trip to Spain.

“Being lucky with an amazing network of friends and family, this was taken out of our hands by some amazing people raising the money required for the entire trip and rehab,” he said.

“When we received the hospital and surgery budgets we were actually shocked that the combined amount was below $100,000. We were expecting the surgery cost alone to be north of $150,000.”

Cooper getting prepared for surgery in Spain.

Cooper had surgery on September 5.

“The MRI results post-op showed 100 per cent of the tumour was gone,” Mr Chahine said.

“Cooper was walking four days after surgery in the ICU. The Spanish surgeons couldn’t believe it. They nicknamed him Superman one month post-surgery and, unless you knew Cooper pre-surgery, you would find it hard to pick a deficit.”

The controversy and intense media attention surrounding Dr Teo meant the Spanish hospital where he consulted and guided Cooper’s surgery was nervous about scrutiny and negative publicity, even though the restrictions have no bearing on Dr Teo operating and assisting overseas.

“They tried to stop our surgery three weeks before we were set to fly overseas. But, luckily for us, it all worked out after we emailed the hospital begging them to allow Cooper’s surgery and it went ahead,” she said.

Cooper Chahine with twin sister Madison (left) and parents Jad and Ilana after returning from successful brain surgery in Spain. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“Cooper could be Charlie’s last surgery overseas because no one wants the bad press from Australia. All I can say is, robbing families of the choice of having Charlie is inconceivable,” Mr Chahine said.

“We cannot believe this is happening in a country like Australia. What would happen if Cooper’s twin sister Madison or another child needed surgery that only Charlie can do?

“Unlike others, fortunately we had a choice, we had great surgeons that Charlie actually praised and spoke highly of in regards to skill prepared to operate but there is no one we felt comfortable with, who gave us the full picture then showed they had the confidence to do it.

“There was no one else we felt safe putting our son’s life in their hands. No one had the confidence in their own skills and the answers that Charlie did. I would do anything to convince these doctors who are working against him to please stop, think of the patients who want to have the choice we had.”

Dr Teo is overseas speaking at a variety of conferences including the SYNS Symposium 2022: Neuro-oncology, where he is teaching young neurosurgeons in Switzerland about the latest developments in brain stem tumour surgery.

He is also giving an address on timing and approaches to brain stem at the Congress of neurological surgeons AGM in San Francisco.