Gold Coast family desperate to raise money for brain tumour victim Casper
'He has no chance of surviving without the treatment': Family's desperate effort to raise $120,000 so their 19-year-old son can fly to the U.S. to have surgery to remove his recurring brain tumour
- Casper McCallum was first diagnosed with a tumour when he was 14
- Now 19, the Gold Coast teen has endured five years of intensive treatment
- But there is nothing else Australian doctors can do to remove the tumour
- Family and neighbours are trying to raise $120,000 so he can fly to the U.S. and get treatment
A 19-year-old who has suffered from a recurring brain tumour for five years is desperately trying to raise $120,000 so he can fly to the U.S. and receive treatment not available in Australia.
Casper McCallum, from Parkwood on the Gold Coast, was first diagnosed with the tumour when he was 14 and has since had four operations to reduce its size, undergone months of chemotherapy and suffered a stroke.
The family have run out of options in Australia and with the tumour starting to grow close to Casper's brain stem their only hope is to fly him to the U.S. before February for expensive proton therapy which has a 95 percent chance of working.
His mother Louise McCallum, 51, says he has no chance of surviving without the treatment.
'There's nothing they can do here apart from stopping the tumour growing as fast, but they can't even say that will work,' Ms McCallum told Daily Mail Australia.
'The proton therapy has a 95 per cent chance of working, which you know is still not 100 per cent but it's a better shot than what we've got here.
'I spoke to the doctor [in the U.S.] and he said they've had enormous success, particularly in young adults.'
The type of treatment available in Australia – photon radiation - is very invasive and dangerous, Ms McCallum said.
'It damages every single tissue that it touches,' she said.
'It would obviously damage his brain, but we don't know what part.
'But with proton radiation [in the U.S.] a pencil beam can go through at a very slow rate and the beam can also come out the same way it came in, so it reduces the damage of healthy tissue.'
The medical equipment for proton therapy, which costs $200 million and takes two years to build, has not yet been brought to Australia.
The government has subsidised patients to travel overseas for similar treatments in the past, but the application process for funding would take too long so the family are trying to raise the $120,000 themselves.
Casper's tumour is not cancerous but it keeps growing back and the side effects from numerous operations and bouts of chemotherapy to reduce its size have meant Casper has not been able to life a normal teenage life.
'It's been a whole lifestyle change,' he said.
'I guess I used to be just normal and then it was just really overwhelming, I gained a lot of weight and I felt tired all the time.'
The last operation Casper had in September caused a stroke, affecting his vision and movement in his left side which means the avid drummer can no longer play in his band.
He graduated from high school but was unable to attend for long periods of time and his vision is impaired so he can't drive.
'I think he lost a lot of confidence, he was a very outgoing child,' Ms McCallum said.
'He'd love to work but it's hard finding a job, he is always tired because of the drugs.'
Like his peers, Casper has career aspirations – in Casper's case his dream is to work in the film industry – but he had to drop out of a TAFE course earlier this year due to his illness.
'It's been a roller-coaster ride - you feel you go one step forward and then three steps back,' Ms McCallum said.
'He has short-term memory loss from previous operations.
'In the past he's been in a lot of agony, or has suffered constant vomiting whether it be from the chemo or the pressure on the brain.
'You sort of wake up and have to take every day as it comes.'
Three weeks ago the family's neighbours came together to form a committee to help fundraise for the 19-year-old, because the sooner he can receive treatment the more chance doctors have of successfully removing the tumour.
If they reach their goal of $120,000 Casper would need to go to the clinic in the U.S. and he would undergo intensive treatment every day for six weeks.
The committee have held sausage sizzles, local businesses have put tins at their counters and they have a street garage sale and concert planned for later this year.
A Facebook page and crowdfunding page have also been set up for donations and so far $37,490 has been raised.
'It's pretty overwhelming, it's put a massive smile on my face,' Casper said.