When 15-year-old New South Wales schoolboy Matthew Williams complained to his mum about an earache and sore jaw in July, she brushed it off as swimmer\u2019s ear and thought a dose of antibiotics would do the trick.<\/p>\n
But a trip to the dentist and an X-ray would later reveal a more sinister reason<\/a> behind her son\u2019s pain. <\/p>\n Be the first to know when news breaks. Download our new app<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe looked at the screen and the dentist goes \u2018there\u2019s this big black blur\u2019,\u201d Matthew\u2019s mum Jen Williams told news.com.au.<\/p>\n \u201cI said \u2018what\u2019s that?\u2019 and she goes, \u2018we don\u2019t know\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n The family were instantly sent to John Hunter Hospital for further investigation after a lesion was spotted on the X-ray.<\/p>\n \u201cI got this sinking feeling in my stomach,\u201d Ms Williams said.<\/p>\n Alongside the boy\u2019s beautiful smile, an aggressive tumour<\/a> was settling into Matthew\u2019s jawline with the goal of destroying everything in its path.<\/p>\n \u201cI bawled and said (to the doctor), \u2018what does this mean\u2019 and he said \u2018it could be any type of tumour and they\u2019re rare in boys his age\u2019,\u201d Ms Williams said.<\/p>\n Right then and there, a courageous Matthew hopped onto a chair and kept a brave face while he was poked and prodded with needles as the doctor took a biopsy of the tumour invading his jaw. <\/p>\n \u201cFive o\u2019clock that day we wobbled out of John Hunter Hospital and Matthew goes \u2018can I go to the toy shop now\u2019,\u201d Ms Williams said. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd I was just there crying and said \u2018sure\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Have a story? Get in touch \u2013 rebecca.borg@news.com.au<\/p>\n A shocking diagnosis<\/p>\n A week later the results came back and Matthew was diagnosed with a rare, slow-growing and aggressive tumour known as ameloblastoma. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s tough to watch anyone get that diagnosis, let alone your own son. I\u2019d take the tumour from him if I could,\u201d Ms Williams said. <\/p>\n It\u2019s so rare it accounts for one per cent of all tumours found in the jaw, and is mostly found in adults aged between 30 and 40 years old. <\/p>\n Ms Williams said her son\u2019s doctor had treated just three cases like it in his entire career, with Matthew likely to be his youngest patient with the condition. Fortunately, it\u2019s not cancerous.<\/p>\n The teenager is now bracing for a massive surgery on Tuesday that will see doctors remove a fibula bone from his leg to reconstruct the gaping hole the tumour has indented into his jaw. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just destroyed all the teeth and it\u2019s eaten out most of his jawbone,\u201d Ms Williams said. <\/p>\n Matthew will require three surgical teams \u2013 maxillofacial, vascular and orthopaedic \u2013 with the surgery performed under the supervision of oral surgeon Professor Gary Hoffman.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have to take about 10cm from the fibular bone because of the size of his tumour, and then reconstruct it into a jawbone that matches the other side of his face,\u201d Ms Williams said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey put some titanium metal plates that look like a bike chain from his ear around to his face and they get all the muscles and the blood vessels \u2026 and attach it.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s step one.\u201d<\/p>\n The long road to recovery<\/p>\n The doctors said Matthew\u2019s leg and jaw could take six to 12 months to heal, but what will make Matthew\u2019s recovery slightly more difficult is his Autism diagnosis. <\/p>\n As he will have a trachea pipe due to the swelling, he won\u2019t be able to talk and will need to use a communication board to convey his thoughts and feelings to his mum. <\/p>\n \u201cDown the track then we\u2019ll have to do more surgeries as they start putting implants in his jaw and eventually false teeth,\u201d Ms Williams said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe loves his steak, he\u2019s going to have to learn to like noodles.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not known how Matthew developed the tumour, especially given his age, but Ms Williams said her son\u2019s doctor suspected it was because \u201cthe enamel and tooth cells had gone rogue\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s dislodged four or five of his teeth, but it was just this silent thing that started off as an earache,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The surgery will require Matthew\u2019s family to temporarily relocate from their Port Macquarie home for several weeks, as he undergoes treatment two and a half hours away from home.<\/p>\n Thankfully, Ms Williams and her husband James will stay with Matthew at the Ronald McDonald House for as long as he\u2019s a patient. <\/p>\n But it won\u2019t be enough to cover the costs that come after the surgery nor make up for the work both parents are missing out on while away from home.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce we get out of the hospital, we can\u2019t come home to Port Macquarie, we\u2019ve got to spend another three to four weeks in Newcastle for outpatient clinics so we\u2019ve got to stay down there,\u201d Ms Williams said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve still got our bills at home and then there\u2019s post-operative care. If you want people to help your son, you\u2019ve got to pay for them.\u201d<\/p>\n The cost of care<\/p>\n Despite his young age, Matthew knows the financial burden such a large surgery will have on his family.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was feeling really depressed, he said \u2018mum, dad, you can\u2019t afford the mortgage, we\u2019re going to lose the house\u2019,\u201d Ms Williams said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s worrying about that when he\u2019s got a tumour.\u201d<\/p>\n