Cancer shock spurs country communities into action

After a sore neck and hip led to a nightmare diagnosis, eight-year-old Ava and her family have been inundated with support from locals she “barely knows”.

After a sore neck and hip led to the worst diagnosis her mother could imagine – stage 4 neuroblastoma cancer – eight-year-old Ava has been inundated with support by locals she “barely knows”.

Ava Kraatz was a healthy, happy eight-year-old.

But when she started complaining of a sore neck and hip, even doctors didn’t expect what was to come.

In early March this year, little Ava was taken to hospital for her pain.

Ava at the front of a family photo. (L to R) Madison, 14; Matthew, 12; mother Tiffiany; Ava, 8; father Jeremy; Isabell, 11; and, Caitlyn, 13.

Doctors sent her home on antibiotics thinking she was experiencing symptoms of a virus and Ava happily returned to school at Howard State Primary School.

When the symptoms didn’t go away however, her family took her back to hospital and a lump in Ava’s stomach was the catalyst for a rushed ultrasound and CT scan.

The result? An 8x8 tumour on her left kidney.

Ava was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma cancer on March 12.

Ava Kraatz, 8, was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma cancer in March.

With daughter receiving treatment in Brisbane at Queensland Children’s Hospital, her parents Tiffiany Sayers and Jeremy Worgan decided it was best to leave their jobs.

The full-time hairdresser and refrigerator mechanic are now full-time careers.

The financial burden would never be more important than their youngest child’s health.

A GoFundMe page, created by a family member, to support Ava’s family through this time, has sparked support in unexpected amounts and from the most unexpected places.

Speaking with The Chronicle, Tiffiany said even though the family had their “bad and good days,” the support from back home had been “overwhelming”.

“We‘ve had heaps of support from back home … It’s not something that you really think would happen … It’s lovely to see that they’re all behind us that’s for sure,” she said.

“(Money) is not something that really matters when you’re in this situation, but it definitely helps knowing that we don’t have to worry about it … The donations and the financial support that we’ve got is great, it just takes a bit of pressure off us.”

Ava had her eighth birthday in hospital, on April 24.

A fundraiser event was organised for Ava and her family by a client of Tiffiany’s, a lady she’d only looked after “a couple of times”.

“I’d done (Loretta Hill’s) hair a couple of times … I mean, I’ve only worked at the Toogoom hairdressing salon since October last year until February this year, so, it’s not like I’d even been there for that long,” she said.

“We had come home for the fundraiser (on June 12), we didn’t really know that many people … knowing that they are there for us is lovely,” Tiffiany said.

“They did an amazing job of the event, they just put it all together and they‘ve never done one before, it was amazing.”

Ava’s treatment is expected to go for about 18 months, the whole time spent away from her home and siblings.

And, another event – Cabaret for Ava – has been organised by another local, a friend of Tiffiany’s former work colleagues, who she “didn’t know at all.”

“I finally met the lady who’s organising the cabaret at the fundraiser, I didn’t know her before … I didn’t know her at all,” she said.

“The support of just complete strangers is amazing.”

You can follow Ava’s Journey on her Facebook page, here.

Originally published as Cancer shock spurs country communities into action