An ‘ordinary’ seven-year-old boy found out he had stage four cancer after he complained of a simple belly ache after a day of play.
Raf spent his seventh birthday running around with friends and family before telling his mum, Natalie Oaten, that his stomach hurt in October 2021.
She took him to the doctors where Raf walked out with a low-grade urinary tract infection diagnosis and a prescription for antibiotics.
However, when the little boy continued to complain of discomfort they went to Lismore Base Hospital in NSW where scans revealed Raf had stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma, an aggressive form of childhood cancer.
Now nine and cancer-free, but with a 50 per cent chance of relapse, Raf is gearing up to celebrate Christmas with his family who have since made it their mission to raise awareness for the ‘lifeline’ treatment that saved their little boy.
Raf was celebrating his seventh birthday in 2021 when he complained of a stomach ache that turned out to be stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma, an aggressive form of cancer
His mother, Natalie Oaten, (pictured together) rushed him to the Queensland Children’s Hospital where he began an extensive 20 month treatment program
During the height of the pandemic, Ms Oaten rushed Raf from Lismore, NSW to the Queensland Children’s Hospital.
They were separated from family in Brisbane while borders were closed.
‘That turned into four months of not seeing my husband or my other son because they couldn’t cross the border at the time,’ Ms Oaten told 7News.
Raf spent more than 20 months in treatment interstate – away from his father and his siblings.
For almost two years Raf’s brother would see his father crying in the shower while it remained unclear if the cancer would prove fatal.
At one point Raf was in ‘so much pain that you could not touch him’ and he lost mobility in one side, his mother said.
He underwent multiple sessions of chemotherapy, radiation treatments, surgeries and stem cell transplants.
However, the break-came after Raf started a new type of immunotherapy called dinutuximab, which his family believe saved his life.
Since being cleared by doctors, Raf and his family have been advocating for the treatment as experts continue research at the Ian Frazer Centre for Children’s Immunotherapy Research in Queensland.
The Oatens are now advocating for the ‘lifeline’ treatment that the claim saved Raf – a new type of immunotherapy called dinutuximab which helps immune systems destroy cancer cells
Immunotherapy was effective for Raf because it helped his immune system destroy cancer cells, but typically it is not used to treat children.
Ms Oaten said that by raising awareness for the treatment her family hopes other children with high-risk neuroblastoma might be able to access it.
The research comes with a hefty price tag, but if just one per cent of ns donated $5 it would make all the difference, the mother said.
‘Cancer is hard and it’s confronting and it’s not pretty. You lose people in droves and suddenly your village becomes really lonely,’ she said.
‘We still don’t know where we’re going to be two, five or 10 years from here, so I’ll be damned if I stand there and say that we’ve beaten this… we’re going to live with this for the rest of our lives.’