{"id":194346,"date":"2025-12-21T04:01:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T04:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/194346\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T04:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T04:01:10","slug":"baby-to-undergo-stronger-chemo-after-rare-brain-tumour-got-bigger-after-first-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/194346\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby to undergo stronger chemo after rare brain tumour got bigger after first round"},"content":{"rendered":"

McComb said Declan would have to fully recover from the operation, which removed most of the tumour, before starting a nine-day round of stronger chemo in the new year. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the news that we wanted to get right before Christmas, but he\u2019s a little fighter.\u201d<\/p>\n

You would not be able to tell the hardship Declan has been through by the look on his face, said McComb. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s so happy, laughing away and looks like there\u2019s nothing even wrong with him. The nurses are all over him. He was getting passed around last night like a pass-the-parcel. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t even look sick, and that\u2019s what makes it so heartbreaking.\u201d <\/p>\n

McComb has been travelling between Levin, where she looks after her two other children, and Auckland for Declan\u2019s treatment. <\/p>\n

Declan\u2019s father, Jay Fish, has been staying in Auckland with him. <\/p>\n

McComb\u2019s 9-year-old son has autism and travels with her to Auckland, usually for four-day stints. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe tumour in Declan’s brain grew after he underwent chemotherapy. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

The situation has taken a toll on McComb, who struggles to sleep and does not feel like eating. <\/p>\n

\u201cGoing places and seeing other babies and kids and just thinking of Declan, and I\u2019m just like, \u2018Why? Why my baby?\u2019 But you\u2019ve just got to fight for them.\u201d <\/p>\n

The timing of the circumstances has not made things any easier, she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t even started Christmas shopping for my other kids. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just haven\u2019t had the energy or the strength. Christmas should be a happy, fun time and instead it\u2019s not.\u201d <\/p>\n

A Givealittle<\/a> page has been set up by Declan\u2019s godmother to support the travel costs. <\/p>\n

Some of the funds will go towards bringing Fish\u2019s family members to New Zealand to be with him, as all of his relatives live in the United Kingdom, McComb said. <\/p>\n

\"Declan\u2019sDeclan\u2019s godmother set up a Give a Little page to support his parents as they travel between Levin and Auckland for his treatment. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

McComb first realised something was wrong in late October <\/a>when her friend noticed Declan\u2019s fontanelle was larger than normal.<\/p>\n

An MRI at Wellington Hospital then found a 4cm tumour in Declan\u2019s brain, which McComb later learned was a choroid plexus papilloma.<\/p>\n

McComb said he never showed any symptoms of being ill, like vomiting or acting unhappy, apart from the fontanelle, she said. <\/p>\n

Nobody knew their child better than themselves, but some things could go unnoticed when with them every day, she said. <\/p>\n

Her plea to new parents was to always look for signs and to get their midwife or Plunket nurse to check the fontanelle at every check-up. <\/p>\n

McComb said she and Declan\u2019s father would continue to fight alongside him. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not going to be the end.\u201d <\/p>\n

Since the first article on Declan was published in the Herald in mid-November, the family have received helpful support, she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McComb said Declan would have to fully recover from the operation, which removed most of the tumour, before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[120517,74,3952,6794,41216,1596,91473,2535,120516,1888,17881,42,2241,5511,3242,3234,3025,43,9716,34293,8205,5196,18833,5147,42699,120518,61,40,38,41,39,21733,42913],"class_list":["post-194346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-5andahalf","tag-after","tag-aucklands","tag-baby","tag-bigger","tag-brain","tag-chemo","tag-chemotherapy","tag-declan","tag-first","tag-got","tag-headlines","tag-hospital","tag-just","tag-large","tag-months","tag-most","tag-news","tag-old","tag-preparing","tag-rare","tag-removed","tag-round","tag-starship","tag-stronger","tag-surgeons","tag-to","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-tumour","tag-undergo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}