HOW A TICK SAVED OUR LITTLE BOY’S LIFE!
A bloodsucker in Weston’s scalp led to a shock diagnosis
Cheeky nine-year-old Weston Allen loves nothing more than kicking a footy around with his mates, but he owes his life to a random tick bite.
Just weeks ago, the freckle-faced third grader was full of beans, but after his mum Amy, 29, found a tiny parasite embedded in his scalp, he began complaining of sore legs. Worried it may be related to the tick, she and dad James, 33, an emergency doctor at the Gold Coast Hospital, took their boy for a blood test.
“James and I were led into a small room with the doctor and I knew something else was wrong. That was the moment our world came crashing down,” Amy says. Weston was diagnosed with an aggressive blood cancer known as Burkitt’s leukaemia/lymphoma and immediately admitted to the Queensland Children’s Hospital.
“Doctors said it’s likely the cancer had only appeared in Weston weeks before,” Amy says. “If we hadn’t taken him for the blood test… I can’t even consider the outcome. We’re blessed to have an extraordinary team of doctors and nurses.” The family, including sister Maeli, seven, and brothers Rocky, four, and Jaeger, six months, have relocated from the Gold Coast to Brisbane so they can be near the hospital 24/7 for their little fighter.
“We take turns looking after Weston so one of us is always with him. Maeli even goes to school here at the hospital. Everyone has been amazing. “Weston says every day, ‘I couldn’t do this without you, Mum.’ He’s a remarkable kid with a heart of gold. He doesn’t deserve this, but what sick child does?
“He’s determined to be home for Christmas and has asked Santa for his beloved AFL team the Carlton Blues to win the flag in 2020 – that’s our Weston! “He has his whole life ahead of him and so much to live for – he’s really the bravest little man we know.”
Jill Roughley doesn’t need a song sheet to know all about the droughts and flooding rains – she’s spent all but two of her years living in the drought-stricken Walgett area of NSW’S far north-west.
Jill, 79, also knows about hardship – given she took over the running of her 5650-hectare farm on her own in the midst of the big dry, after losing her husband of 47 years, John, to cancer in 2017.
Her resilience and beaming smile remain, despite how tough life seems at the moment. “It won’t be the drought that breaks me. If anything breaks me it will be the bank,’’ says Jill.
“It will be how the banks and the government handle it. We will all be pretty much in the same boat. Everyone is resigned to the fact that we just take each day as it comes and to be prepared for when it comes a time to restock, or how they are going to re-sow when this thing breaks.’’
Jill is a sheep grazier. She sold her last remaining sheep about six weeks ago. The property can hold more than 3000 head of sheep during the good days. But two-and-a-half years of hand-feeding has come to an end.
“They were not getting any younger either,’’ Jill says with a wry grin.
LIKE A ‘SPOOKY MOVIE’
“We have seen a lot of droughts but this is different. What people do not realise is that we have been through droughts since about 2001.
“I know there were two floods in 2011 and 2012, but it didn’t rain again until 2016. That year was a very good year for farmers – bumper crops – and very good for graziers. But then we have fallen into drought again. Consequently the land has not been able to recover. I haven’t seen trees dying everywhere like they are now. Everything is just dying.
“It is like an eerie, spooky movie out here with all these leaves off the trees. And the experts say if they do hang on and it does rain, they may even die of shock.’’
Jill remembers buying her first property with John in the 1970s, a 5650-hectare farm on the border of NSW and Queensland.
They had just moved into a mobile home with a newborn when they went to sleep one night with the sound of rain falling on the roof.
“The river was supposed to be two miles [3.2km] away but it had come right up next to us. We had 11 inches [28cm] of rain that night,’’ says Jill.
STRONG COMMUNITY
“It was solid times, but they also showed the resilience of people even back then – over 40 years ago. Our new neighbour drove until he got bogged and walked the rest of the way just to check on us and our baby.
“They are the kind of people that live out here. Resilient.’’
The tough times have continued for almost two decades across the north-west of NSW. But despite their hardship the communities still continue to give – recently $23,000 was raised for a longstanding Country Women’s Association’s program to help local youngsters get start in the medical profession.
“People are unreal out here,” says Jill.
“I don’t know where they get their money, but if people are in trouble they rally around and help any way they can. It is one extraordinary community.
“Walgett, this district, has been the worst of the drought areas. We have borne the brunt of it. We have had three inches [7.6cm] of rain since the start of last year.
“We got nine millimetres a week or so ago, but all that did was settle the dust and make you feel good for a day or so. But the drought won’t beat us.’’
STAYING POSITIVE
There’s not a touch of arrogance or blind faith to be found in Jill’s voice. It’s just the deep knowledge that the people of the Walgett district are made of sterner stuff.
They have had their collective backs against the wall in the past and, even though these are the worst conditions they have experienced, they continue to keep positive.
Jill turns 80 in March. “Don’t wish that on me just yet,’’ she giggles. “I remember going to my husband’s grandmother’s 80th birthday and thinking how ancient she was – “you poor, old gran’’. But now I know she wasn’t a poor, old gran at all.
“And neither am I.’’
‘They are the kind of people that live out here. Resilient’
Nothing can stop her love of the land
To make a donation to help drought-stricken farming families, visit cwaofnsw.org.au, cwaofvic.org.au or qcwa.org.au