Community bands together for Maddox

2022-10-01 - TRACIE BARRETT tracie.barrett@odt.co.nz

FEW things are more frightening for a parent than learning a child is unwell, and Alexandra residents Darryn and Catherine Gale suffered a huge shock in late April when their son, Maddox, was diagnosed with the cancer rhabdomyosarcoma, just two weeks after his 9th birthday.

Mrs Gale said Maddox had been going downhill for a while and they didn’t know why.

‘‘Every night when he went to bed, he would have a sore jaw, then it moved to headaches.’’

Maddox saw a doctor for blood tests, plus a dentist and an optometrist before being booked in for MRI scans, the second of which enabled doctors to diagnose him.

‘‘Everything made sense then,’’ she said. ‘‘He just had no energy and didn’t want to do things.’’

Since then, Maddox and his mum have spent most of their time in Christchurch, where he has undergone chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

‘‘They didn’t give percentages. All they ever really said was that it was rhabdomyosarcoma and this is what we are going to hit it with, and it is generally very successful.’’

The couple said their son was ‘‘a superstar’’, having completed 28 rounds of radiation therapy.

At home in Alexandra this past week for only the second time since his diagnosis, Maddox played with his older brothers, William (14) and Dylan (16), who both shaved their heads during a fundraiser auction at the Alexandra District Club last month. Dylan’s friend Jaedyn McKenzie (15) started the haircut trend by offering to lose his muchloved mullet for the cause.

Auction coorganiser Sonia TaylorvandenYssel said more than $38,000 was raised.

Mrs Gale said the generosity of the Alexandra community ‘‘just blew us away’’.

‘‘We just wanted to thank every single business, the club and everyone who was involved with making the auction night come together.’’

She said someone had told her on the auction night, ‘‘if you’re going to have a tragedy, it’s best to be in a small town’’.

Maddox’s aunt, Renee Gale, also set up a givealittle page which had raised $16,500 over four months.

‘‘. . . We don’t have to stress about finances,’’ Mrs Gale said.

TWIZEL OTEMATATA RANFURLY OAMARU PALMERSTON

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Friends and a local company even renovated the family’s back yard as a surprise.

Mrs Gale and Maddox would fly to Christchurch on Monday, for two more rounds of chemotherapy before another MRI scan and an oncologist assessment.

Even with the best of news, Maddox would still require six months of maintenance chemotherapy, but his parents hope he can spend most of his time home with friends, family, and a community filled with wellwishers.