Keni’s Fight against Brain Cancer

Keni is a 5 yr old beautiful boy who was diagnosed with a Craniopharyngioma in October 2022, after experiencing severe headaches for months prior and being sent home from hospital on several occasions being told he had a viral infection.

A Craniopharyngioma is a rare type of brain tumour occurring in roughly 0.5 - 2 people per 1 million people.

In November 2022, Keni underwent a 10 hour operation to remove the tumour, unfortunately they were unable to remove the whole lot as it was attached to his Pituitary gland and removing all of it would of caused many more side affects that wasn’t worth the risk. Keni went on to spend 2 weeks in hospital recovering, during the early stages of his recovery he started experiencing seizures, it was unknown if he would have these as a short/ long term issue. Keni was seen by many specialists who were very impressed at how he was recovering. Keni has trouble now producing certain hormones and is needing daily medication to maintain these levels.

Keni started to experience headaches again mid 2023 where an emergency MRI was completed, finding the tumour had grown faster than they expected. The only option for Keni is to start radiation therapy as soon as possible. Keni has 6 weeks of daily radiation at Peter Mac starting 12/07/2023. The side affects radiation may have on him due to his age could affect his vision, learning, memory, cardiovascular system and the possibility another tumour may start growing in the lining of his brain.

Keni will be having MRIs throughout his treatment to monitor the effects as future intervention may be needed.

Keni will be under the care of RCH/ Peter Mac for the rest of his life.

Hopefully this treatment will destroy the cancerous cells and Keni is able to live a happy future.