Camp shines light into lives of cancer kids

Camp Quality helps cancer-affected kids like Mareko Ratu, here with mum Tania. Photo / Alan Gibson

Mareko Ratu was just 10 days old when he started chemotherapy for the cancer he was born with. By the time he was 6 months old he had spent 97 days and nights in hospital and had had six operations and 35 blood transfusions.

Mareko, now 7, was still in the womb when medical staff noticed a lump in his liver. His mother, Tania Ratu, was 34 weeks pregnant.

Shortly after his birth four weeks later he was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, the most common type of cancer to affect young children that forms in developing nerve cells.

His system reacted by retaining fluid, "blowing up like a balloon".

He stopped breathing at one point and endured many blood transfusions to get ready for the next bout of chemotherapy.

Mareko suffered through four rounds of chemo and was one day into his fifth when medical staff were satisfied that he was all right.

There is only a 1 per cent chance of Mareko's neuroblastoma returning. But the Waikato youngster suffers life-long ailments from so much chemotherapy at such a young age, including high-frequency hearing loss and a severely damaged liver which has been left so scarred he can never drink alcohol.

He also has a chance of contracting another type of cancer; an ironic and sad side-effect of the chemotherapy itself.

Shining a bit of light and relief on the Ratu family - who include brother Ratu, 12, and sisters Ani, 10, and Kiri, 3 - is Camp Quality, a volunteer, non-profit charitable trust dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for children living with cancer. Camp volunteers organise a range of activities including week-long summer camps, family days, reunions and social occasions at no cost to the children.

Mrs Ratu said it was good not only for the children's independence, making friends and realising they're not alone, but also for parents, enabling them to meet others in a similar situation and exchange stories.

"Absolutely, that's a huge part of our journey ... it's the independence you gain from being away from home but also just giving them opportunities that they wouldn't normally have."

Camp Quality is holding its national awareness day - Odd Shoe Day - next Friday, September 11, to help raise money for the cost of the camps delivered to children living with cancer each year - that's about $600,000.

New Zealand schools, businesses, organisations, service clubs and communities will be encouraged to wear odd shoes for the day and pay a donation to Camp Quality. Donations will help children like Mareko.

Mareko's first six months

• 6 surgeries
• 11 chemotherapy days
• 3 ambulance rides
• 5 times in isolation for fever
• 1 lumbar puncture
• 10 ultrasound tests
• 35 blood transfusions
• 3 oxygen tube insertions
• 97 days and nights in hospital