On Christmas Day 2009, as families around the country happily unwrapped presents, Mindy and David Monck sat by the hospital bedside of their 14-month-old son Ethan, who was in an induced coma. Ethan’s recent cancer related lung surgery meant he would not be opening any presents today. But there was some comfort that day for Mindy and David. They lived in Sale, Victoria, but were staying at Ronald McDonald House Monash in Melbourne. Staff at the House put on a Christmas feast for the resident families. “That really helped,” Mindy says. “The fact that we could get out of the hospital and have a Christmas meal meant there was a small part of Christmas that felt normal. It was such a hard day for a lot of families but Ronald McDonald House, Monash, helped lift our spirits"

Six months earlier Mindy had noticed a lump in little Ethan’s tummy as he lay on his back. She rushed him to local doctors who quickly diagnosed the worst. “Our paediatrician sat us down and said it’s cancer,” Mindy recalls. “I was devastated. David and I had waited four years to have a child. You get the baby in your arms and you think they’re absolutely perfect. To be told your eight-month-old child has cancer is absolutely crushing.” Just as painful was watching little Ethan go through a seemingly endless series of chemo treatments and, once the treatment was almost over, to be told the cancer had returned. “The treatment hadn’t worked – growths were found in his right lung and his liver,” Mindy says. “The cancer had come back and the oncology team didn’t know how he was going to respond to the next treatment.”

Comfort of Ronald McDonald House

Poor Ethan would have to endure surgery and further chemo just before Christmas. “Trusting other people with your son’s life is terribly difficult,” Mindy says. “And knowing your child is having major surgery at such a young age is almost too hard to comprehend. But it was a relief once we knew the cancer was taken out.” Ethan won’t be given the all-clear until two years after his treatment. In that time Mindy knows she has support when she needs it, not only from her husband but also from Ronald McDonald House, Monash. “The night I was told Ethan had relapsed I was devastated,” Mindy recalls. “I had a room at Ronald McDonald House and went there for a shower and Jennifer, the House Manager, asked what was wrong. I burst into tears but she was so supportive. She said, ‘This house is yours. Whatever you need, don’t hesitate to ask.’ That reassurance was an amazing feeling.”