This 'game-changing' announcement will give sick kids new hope

“It was a big moment for us,” one dad said. “It’s nice to see a win. You don’t always kick goals, so to get a goal like this is just huge.”

Families with children battling a deadly cancer have been given a lifeline after the government announced funding for early access to a lifesaving drug in Australia.

Neuroblastoma is a rare cancer, but claims the lives of more children under the age of five than any other type of cancer.

Children who have suffered have a 50 per cent chance of relapse if they do recover, and then their chances of survival drop to just five per cent.

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A Current Affair reports children suffering from neuroblastoma have been forced to fly to the United States to access the potentially life-saving drug called DFMO.

The Richardson family from Melbourne had previously faced spending more than half a million dollars just to keep their son alive.

“It just seems like insanity,” dad Tyler told ACA.

“We’re flying over there to pick up some tablets and bring them home, five or six times in two years with a kid that’s this sick.

“It makes zero sense to us.”

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Two-year-old Harris suffers from neuroblastoma. Picture: A Current Affair

"It's so important for children to get the treatment they deserve"

However, families like the Richardsons have been given new hope after a campaign by Neuroblastoma Australia chief executive Lucy Jones.

The campaign led to Health Minister Mark Butler announcing Aussie kids would receive DFMO for free in Australian hospitals.

"This is a really important day for Australian families who are grappling with neuroblastoma," Butler said.

"Our government was not willing in good conscience to stand by and not give these kids every chance of survival."

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Ms Jones lost a daughter to neuroblastoma 14 years ago, which led to a life of advocating for other families going through the same thing.

“I know what families live through, I know the risk of relapse having lost my own daughter,” she told ACA.

“It’s just so important that these families get the recognition they deserve with everything they have to go through, and that their children get the treatment they deserve.”

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The Richardson family will no longer be forced to fly all the way to the United States just to pick up their son's medication. Picture: A Current Affair

"Families will have their lives changed forever"

Tyler said the decision would be “game changing” for his son Harris.

“It was a big moment for us,” the dad told ACA.

“It’s nice to see a win. You don’t always kick goals, so to get a goal like this is just huge.”

Harris is still in hospital for treatment, but he no longer needs long trips to the other side of the world for his medicine.

“We want to say a massive thank you,” Tyler said.

“Not only to the health minister, but everyone that was raising this issue and helping push this thing through.

“Families will have their lives changed forever.”

Originally published as This 'game-changing' announcement will give sick kids new hope