Matthew Carratu had one wish last year, for his 6-year-old son to be home in time for Christmas, and it came true.
In July, 2015 his son Alex was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma and endured four rounds of intense chemotherapy after a 5kg tumour was found in his belly.
At the same time Mr Carratu juggled work, looked after his four other children and drove to Starship Hospital in Auckland on weekends to visit Alex and his pregnant wife Claudia who stayed with him in hospital.
Doctors said if the chemotherapy did not work and tumour cells were still found in Alex, he would need another five rounds of treatment.
In between Alex's third and fourth rounds of chemotherapy a CAT scan showed there was something which did not belong in a little body.