Two-year-old Sam Ellis is a battler, and despite living with an aggressive cancer he is determined to fight on.
When the Ensign spoke to Sam’s dad, Jack, a little more than 12 months ago, the family was in the midst of relocating to Melbourne to be close to the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Since that time there have been ups and downs; however, a combination of medical and naturopathic treatment is having a positive effect.
It was only days before Christmas that doctors told Jack and his wife, Lauren, to prepare for the worst.
However, much like Sam, the couple had no desire to give up.
Jack and Lauren went on a mission to research any, and all, treatments available.
Now, with the assistance of three naturopaths, and the incredible staff at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Sam’s health has never been better.
“He was diagnosed on February 26 last year (2022),” Jack said.
“He started with five rounds of induction chemotherapy.
“That was taking place for five to six months.”
The way that works is that Sam would be in hospital receiving treatment for one week, then home recuperating for another two to three weeks.
Then the process would repeat.
“Round three and five made him particularly sick,” Jack said.
“They were what they call cisplatin (chemotherapy) treatments.
“They were incredibly toxic and made him really sick for weeks after and also affected his hearing.
“They did work up to a point, where they shrunk his main tumour down enough that it could be operated on.”
That was a serious surgery, where the majority of the tumour was removed.
“They had to leave some of the tumour in as it was near a blood vessel and they didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks,” Jack said.
“That surgery was mostly a success.
“Then he had one more round of chemo after his surgery, after which they discovered he actually had become refractory and had stopped responding to treatment.
“This drastically reduced his chance of survival.
“When diagnosed they told us his chance of survival was 60 per cent.
"At that point it was below 30 per cent.
“That was around August last year, so they stopped his protocol treatment.
“We went on to a trial with immunotherapy mixed with two different chemos.
“An oral one followed up an hour later with an intravenous one.”
Once again, Sam was back to one week in hospital followed by two weeks at home.
He was showing great improvement in his Curie score, which is a term used in the field of oncology, specifically in the context of neuroblastoma cancer treatment, to measure the effectiveness of a particular treatment or intervention.
“When he was diagnosed his Curie score was 16 out of 30,” Jack said.
“They told us 30 was extremely bad and zero was when someone is in remission.
“At the end of induction chemo that was down to 12.
“Even after he became refractory his score was down to nine.
“We eventually got down to a seven. That is when we got the call two days before Christmas to come into the hospital.
“They told us that he had stopped responding to the immunotherapy and we needed to start thinking about more invasive and toxic treatments.”
That is when Jack and Lauren started looking into alternative treatments.
“We are now seeing three different naturopaths at the same time,” Jack said.
“One is a naturopath and homeopath based in Albury.
“Another is a naturopath and dietician based out of Melbourne.
“The third is a naturopath who specialises in natural medicines.
“The one in Albury, she can tell us what Sam is tolerant to and what causes inflammation, as well as what foods cause a reaction in his body.
“She told us what foods to avoid. We then took that to the dietician in Melbourne who has provided us with the best diet for Sam.
“We also have a water filter to remove chemicals, which at the same times adds alkaline. He also has a range of different supplements we give him.
“Since he’s been on the new diet he has dropped to a Curie score of four.
“That’s very encouraging and the doctors were surprised.
“They didn’t think he could get down to that score.”
Jack and Lauren now buy very little from supermarkets, sourcing most of their food from farmers’ markets.
“Lauren has also set up a veggie garden at home,” Jack said.
“She’s a real trouper and prepares all Sam’s meals.
“She’s barely out of the kitchen. She is looking after all of that while I’m working.”
Having two other young children only adds to the couple’s workload.
“We do have great support from our families,” Jack said.
“Both our mums come up and give us a break whenever they can. And our brothers and sisters help out.
“Back in Benalla we’ve also had support. The Rose City Baptist Church have been amazing.
“And we’ve had a lot of financial support, as I’m in the hospital a lot and can’t go to work very often.
“So many people have helped, it’s been very humbling.”
Jack said while the alternative treatments had been effective, it was a combination of those, and the great work of the Royal Children’s Hospital, that had seen Sam turn the corner since Christmas.
“The hospital has been incredible. We can’t talk highly enough of the doctors and nurses,” he said.
“They treat Sam like he’s their own kid.
“With their help we’re slowly winning the battle.
“Six to eight months ago he was on 14 meds.
“Now he’s on two. The results are speaking for themselves.
“Last but not least we’d also like to thank God for all He has done for us and how He has provided for us and guided us through the last 12 months.
“We believe that prayer is one of the most important things that can help Sam and I don’t know the exact number, but there are people and churches all around Australia and in countries around the world praying for Sam
“It’s incredible to know that there are over 1000 people praying for Sam every day and every week.
“We’d like to thank everyone who has supported us and helped us along the way.
“My sister Molly started a GoFundMe, which assisted getting through a tough stage when I was unable to work for an extended period of time and we’d like to thank everyone for that as well.
“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much — James 5:16.”