Rotorua's Liam Messam wades into nephew's brain tumour battle

Former All Black Liam Messam is stepping into the boxing ring for his nephew. Photo / Supplied

Originally published by Māori Television

A former All Black - Rotorua's Liam Messam - is gearing up to fight in the boxing ring for his nephew who is being treated for a brain tumour.

In November last year, Messam's nephew, Antonio Pohatu-Barbarich of Tauranga, was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a cancerous tumour at the base of his skull.

Antonio's mum, Maringiringi Pohatu, said her energy had been focused on the present moment and being there for her boy.

"It's a cancerous tumour based down in the cerebral part of his brain and it was quite large. It was not the size of a tennis ball but almost that sort of size," she said.

The tumour was causing excruciating headaches so, as soon as it was possible, Antonio was taken to Starship in Auckland.

Pohatu said the doctors got him on steroids to stop the swelling.

"It was just full-on, it was really out of it to be a part of."

She said the next day Antonio was in surgery for seven and a half hours.

"They were able to remove the mass of the tumour but, of course, they can't remove everything."

Support for whānau

A Givealittle fundraising page has been set up and Antonio's mum is overwhelmed with the support her whānau has received so far.

"I want to thank you sincerely, respectfully and humbly for your words of support and your generous donations," she said.

Pohatu said her son had responded bravely, and with incredible determination for a little boy, to all of his surgeries and more recently the exhausting daily radiotherapy treatment.

"He lost weight and has had difficulty with loss of appetite. He was recently fitted... with a feeding tube to support his digestion system and help him gain weight. Antonio found this to be the most difficult procedure for him so far."

Fight for Antonio
Messam said his whānau had asked him to share the Givealittle page on his social media but he had another idea.

"They just asked me to retweet the Givealittle page on my social media. I just thought I could do a lot more than just retweet."

Messam said the same day he was asked to share the crowdfunding page for Antonio, a friend from Putaruru said they were having a fight night and asked if he could participate.

"I had a light bulb moment go off in my head and just thought you know, I could jump back in the ring for this young fella, and try to raise as much money as we can to ease the burdens I guess, and the struggles they have to go through."

The Iron Fist 10 Fight Night is at the Don Rowlands Centre in Cambridge and starts at 5pm.