A Christchurch family has farewelled their 8-year-old son after he lost his battle against a rare and aggressive form of cancer.
Connor Coster was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic lymphoma with a Philadelphia-positive chromosome when he was just four.
He had chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, a bone marrow transplant and, after a relapse in 2023, underwent a bone marrow transplant at Starship Hospital.
Connor’s parents, Bobby Coster and Lisa Robertson, were told he was “living on borrowed time”, The New Zealand Herald reported.
Connor’s rare chromosome mutation made the cancer difficult to treat. He had CAR T-cell therapy in Melbourne.
But his blood counts were not recovering and he developed therapy-related myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a serious blood disorder caused by previous cancer treatment.
Connor died on August 13 and a service for him was held on August 16 at Wanaka Primary School.
“One thing that Connor has wanted for the last four years is just to live, and that was true right up until the end. He wanted to shed his light on the world and experience it all,” Robertson told the Herald.
“He loved his friends, he loved his family. He just loved being able to put a smile on anybody’s face.
“Even though he was feeling pretty rotten near the end, he got pretty sick one day and said to Bobby ‘are you okay daddy?’ and Bobby said ‘yeah, I’m okay babe, are you?’
“Right up until the end, he was very much caring and thinking about others and other people’s feelings.”
Anyone who wants to support the family can make a donation to Connor’s Givealittle page.
Connor’s younger brother, Koda, continues to keep a close bond with his brother.
“One day he said twice ‘Connor’s up in the stars. I can see him’,” Robertson told the Herald.
“Every day he tells us Connor’s off playing somewhere … But at night, he breaks down and says, ‘I miss my brother’.”
The family thanked people for their kindness, saying Connor “taught us to feel love and show love in a way we never knew possible”.
-Allied Media