Help Amani Get Back on His Feet

Last year in May just before he turned 9 years old, Amani started complaining of a sore leg which turned out to be metastasized osteosarcoma. This is an aggressive bone cancer that manifested in his right leg and a tiny bit was also found in his
lungs. We had to pack up our house in Shepparton, split up our little family, and
move to Melbourne for his treatment, which was a gruelling 9 months of
chemotherapy and numerous extensive surgeries on his leg, which luckily the
doctors were able to save. Chemotherapy finished at New Year and a month ago
in February he had more surgery on both lungs to remove some lesions.

We are so relieved that this intensive phase of treatment is behind us now and
happy to report that Amani is in remission. We have also been blessed with a new house back in Shepparton and we are all living together again (me, Amani and
Kazadi). But there is still a long road ahead to get his leg functional again and get
him fully mobile – the surgeons say another year with more surgeries to go. He is also undergoing 3 monthly scans and check ups and we have 3 years of high
vigilance before he can be declared a survivor.

Unfortunately because the cancer had spread, his statistics aren’t as good as
those who don’t have spread detected at diagnosis, but as the doctors say, we
have to look at the individual. The fact that he responded so well to the
chemotherapy, that he made it through treatment with minimal delays, and his
strong will and healing spirit, puts him 'somewhere in the middle'. We remain
hopeful and positive that Amani can look forward to a fulfilling, productive and
long life and will be in the survivor percentage.

The next step is intensive rehab for his leg and getting him back to a normal life
which includes school, a wholesome healthy diet, regular undisturbed sleep,
meaningful friendships and enjoying physical and social activities. He lost all of
this during treatment. His world became very small and he lost confidence in
himself, especially with regard to learning and engaging socially. Whilst most of
his treatment has been completely cost free (thanks to our incredible health care system) his social and emotional rehab and ongoing medical care here in
Shepparton will cost a bit more. Unfortunately the cancer journey doesn’t end
with treatment and I believe that keeping stress to a minimum and processing
that trauma out of his body will improve his chances of long term survival.

I have hesitated in creating this GoFundMe as I’m so grateful for all the kindness,
love and support we’ve already received but I also can’t afford some of the things that would really help him in terms of rebuilding his confidence, processing and
coming to terms with the trauma of what he’s been through, building an
understanding and narrative around the experience, and providing him with some specialist support to accelerate his learning. 

Any donations made here would help send him to weekly Sand Play Therapy
sessions where he also gets to play with a beautiful Therapy Dog (he loves this!)
and would also support a specialist education program with an amazing Extra
Lesson practitioner in Mansfield. Donations would also help with ongoing
doctor’s fees (our excellent children's GP here in Shepp who made sure we got a
diagnosis quickly, unfortunately doesn’t bulk bill), and with regular travel to
Melbourne for hospital appointments and to Mansfield for his Extra Lesson
learning program.

Thank you to all who have supported us!