‘Your heart sinks’: Lock farming family travels 700kms for Marlow Kay’s leukaemia treatment

When two-year-old Marlow Kay developed a black spot on his tongue, his mum immediately wanted it checked out. But she couldn’t believe the diagnosis.

When two-year-old Marlow Kay developed a black spot on his tongue, his mum immediately booked a doctors appointment to get it checked out.

But his parents couldn’t believe the diagnosis.

“He’d been falling asleep a lot more often than he normally would,” mum Ashlee Kay, 27, told The Advertiser.

“Then he started coming out with a lot of little bruises all over him in spots he probably wouldn’t get a bruise if he fell over.”

Little Marlow underwent a blood test and from there the family was told they’d need to fly from their home town in Lock, on the Eyre Peninsula to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Marlow Kay, who is a two-year-old boy who was diagnosed with leukaemia, with his family, mum Ashlee, dad Blaze and siblings, Sadie, 5, and twin Della. Picture: GoFundMe

His mum booked a doctors appointment after she found a black spot on his tongue. Picture: GoFundMe

Marlow flew with his dad Blaze Kay and Ms Kay followed a day later.

“They did more tests on him, ultrasounds, blood tests, X-rays and they came back in the room at about 4 o’clock in the morning,” Mr Kay, 29, said.

On March 28, doctors told the father-of-three, his son had leukaemia.

“Your heart just sinks,” he said.

“You think the worst case scenario and the emotions take over.”

Marlow is undergoing chemotherapy. Picture: Supplied

He loves riding in trucks on the farm. Picture: Supplied

Hours after Mr Kay was dealt the devastating news, his wife arrived.

“I gave her a few minutes with Marlow … after a few or so minutes I broke the news to her,” he said.

Ms Kay said it was the last thing she expected to hear.

“Leaving Cummins (and District Memorial Hospital), they had some suspicion that it was some sort of infection somewhere,” she said.

“They told us to expect to be in Adelaide for a couple of days, probably some antibiotics.

“You don’t expect anything different … it was definitely not what I was expecting to hear.”

Marlow’s mum Ashlee Kay did not expect to hear the news her son had cancer. Picture: Supplied

The family needed to relocate from Lock to Adelaide for Marlow’s treatment. Picture: Supplied

Since, Marlow has already had a couple rounds of chemotherapy.

“Going back to the hospital gives him a bit of PTSD because that’s where all the nurses and doctors and all the random people he doesn’t know come in,” Ms Kay said.

“It’s just reminding him that we’ve got to go back to the hospital to help you get better, we tell him as much as we can … but he doesn’t really have much of a grasp on what exactly is going on.”

Marlow is currently undergoing chemotherapy. Picture: Supplied

He was diagnosed on March 28. Picture: Supplied

The farming family, including five-year-old older sister Sadie and Marlow’s twin sister Della, have been forced to relocate full-time to Adelaide while Marlow undergoes treatment.

“It’s a bit of a change of scenery for a while which we will adapt to but it’s apart of the journey,” Mr Kay, who works on his family farm, said.

If you’d like to donate to the Kay family, you can here.

Originally published as ‘Your heart sinks’: Lock farming family travels 700kms for Marlow Kay’s leukaemia treatment