‘MY DARLING BOY IS A FIGHTER!’
The radio host opens up about her brave son’s cancer battle
Kate Langbroek once confessed “nothing felt like it could ever be normal again” after her son Lewis was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in 2009 when he was just six.
But after a four-year battle with the disease, where he was treated at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital, the now 18-year-old has been cancer-free since 2013.
Proud mum Kate, 56 – who gushes that her brave son has the heart of a lion – shared an update on Lewis’ health with her social media followers earlier this month.
“My darling son who had childhood leukaemia now has long-term effects check-up,” the KIIS presenter wrote alongside a snap of the smiling teen laying on a hospital bed. “This may sound ominous to civilians but to those of us who have trod the unpaved cancer road, it is a fraught blessing… Today Lewis is getting his thyroid ultrasound to check that seeds from previous radiation have not enlarged… we hope they have not – but Lewis certainly has. My lanky boyo is now too long for the bed. Praise be.”
FUNNY SIDE OF LIFE
The Ciao Bella! Six Take Italy author, who went on to wish “blessings and strength to those who are in the midst of battle”, has previously said while it was “tough and terrifying”, her trademark humour got her through the dark times of Lewis’ diagnosis.
“There still was a lot of funny stuff in life. There still was, and there had to be,” Kate, who continued to deliver laughs on her radio show, said. “Not cancer, obviously.”
Indeed, the mother-of-four – who also shares Sunday, 16, Artie, 14, and Jan, 12, with husband Peter Lewis – has admitted that at times the family felt “up to our eyeballs in terror and we could only just keep our noses above and just try to suck in some air and to keep going” during her son’s treatment.
Now, with Lewis’ health back on track, Kate says they’re counting their blessings.
“When we say ‘thank God’ in this family, we try to mean it,” says the star. “Every day is a miracle.” For more details and to support the Children’s Cancer Foundation, visit childrenscancerfoundation.com.au