Little Goldie Rose was like any other toddler – filling her pockets with rocks, offering up a cheeky grin, and taking her first steps.
But at 20 months old, she’s having to work hard to regain her strength and motor skills after gruelling treatment for a rare childhood cancera disease where abnormal cells split without control and spread to other nearby body tissue and/or organs, with more treatment still to come.
In the middle of last year, Goldie’s family noticed she had started losing her motor skills. Instead of walking, her mum Maddison Bennett said she was collapsing, and soon couldn’t bear weight at all.
By late October, she became unwell and was taken for emergency care, where scans finally revealed a large tumour crushing the nerves in her spine and she was rushed for emergency surgerytreatment involving removal of cancerous tissue and/or tumours and a margin of healthy tissue around it to reduce recurrence.
“No parent can ever describe what it feels like watching your terrified baby daughter be wheeled into an operating theatre, not knowing what the outcome will be – whether she will walk again, whether she will survive,” Ms Bennett said.
Tests revealed Goldie had a rare and aggressive childhood cancer called an extra-cranial malignantcancerous, may grow and spread to other areas of the body rhabdoid tumoura tissue mass that forms from groups of unhealthy cells. Having the tumour in her spine and pelvis makes Goldie’s case even more rare.
Now, after surgery, intensive chemotherapya cancer treatment that uses drugs to kill or slow the growth of cancer cells, while minimising damage to healthy cells, fevers, infections and transfusions, Goldie’s ordeal still isn’t over.
The next step is radiation therapya treatment that uses controlled doses of radiation to damage or kill cancer cells, which needs to start within the next three to four weeks. But after consultation with specialists in Australia and internationally, Ms Bennett says the best option for Goldie is not available close to home.
“In Australia, the standard treatment is photon radiation,” she said.
“Because Goldie’s tumour is in her pelvis and spine, photon radiation would pass entirely through her body, exposing her developing organs to high levels of radiation.
“In a child this young, that level of exposure carries significant long-term risks, including permanent damage to ovarian function, permanent disruption of puberty and hormonal development, impaired bone growth, scoliosis, pelvic tilt, leg length discrepancy and an increased lifetime riskthe possibility that something bad will happen of secondary cancers.”
Another option, called proton therapy, is a more favourable option as the radiation can stop at the tumour site, reducing exposure to healthy tissuea group of cells that work together to perform a function and growth plates.
But it’s not available in Australia, so her family is now preparing for international treatment in Singapore. The entire family will relocate temporarily, requiring urgent travel arrangements, accommodation and enrolling Goldie’s two sisters into local schooling while she undergoes treatment.
They’re trying to raise between $250,000 and $300,000, fast, to help make this treatment a reality and give Goldie the best chance to live a full life.
Once in Singapore, Goldie will have additional surgery, chemotherapy and at least six weeks of radiation, then recovery time before she can travel back home, meaning the family will likely be away for at least two-and-a-half months.
“Our lives now revolve around hospital admissions, appointments, and caring for three young children while navigating decisions that carry lifelong consequences,” Ms Bennett said.
Ms Bennett has played rugby league for the Jillaroos, and her family has support from the Currumbin Eagles Rugby League Football Club, which is hosting a Champions’ Lunch at the Currumbin RSL tomorrow.
The lunch will include special guests Jonathan Brown (Brisbane Lions), Cameron Smith (Queensland and Melbourne Storm), Pat Carrigan (Brisbane Broncos) and Madge Maguire (Brisbane Broncos).
During the event, framed and signed rugby league jerseys from Queensland, the Dolphins, the Cowboys and the Broncos will be auctioned, with all proceeds going to support Goldie and her family.
More information about the Champions’ Lunch is available from the Currumbin Eagles website.
You can make a donation to support Goldie through Rare Cancers Australia.
Media contact:
Laura Cohalan
Communications Specialist, Rare Cancers Australia
0437 927 292 | [email protected]