Xaviah’s the real superhero

Eight-year-old Colyton resident’s cancer fight: How family helped him

CASSIDY PEARCE

After almost a year spent in and out of hospital, eight-year-old Colyton resident Xaviah Stimpson has rung the bell and returned home, but not before a very special superhero farewell.

Xaviah was first diagnosed with subtype 3 medulloblastoma in February last year, after doctors found a tumour on his brain. After undergoing brain surgery to remove the golf ball sized tumour on his cerebellum, Xaviah underwent six weeks of radiation, followed by seven months of very intense chemotherapy at Westmead Hospital.

For his mum Nicole Gordon, this took an emotional toll.

“At first it was very hard. As a mother, I struggled a lot, not with being able to take him to appointments, just, emotionally, I struggled,” she said.

“When I look back on everything he went through now, it doesn’t seem like that much, but we spent so much time in there. We would go in for a chemo round, come home, and be readmitted a couple of days later, every time. We never made it home for even a week, never once.”

As the end of Xaviah’s treatment was approaching, Gordon was inspired by the kind act of her family and friends at the beginning to create another special moment.

“On the first night of chemo, me and my partner and Xaviah were heading in there, and unbeknown to us, family and friends had arranged a big surprise in superhero costumes. When we arrived at Westmead, they were already there in their lines for us to walk through,” she said.

“It just made it so much easier to walk in with him, it really made his night. So, we thought we’d do it again at the end, but make it a lot bigger.”

Though she admits Xaviah’s shyness may have gotten the better of him, he couldn’t hide his excitement when some of his favourite superheroes arrived as he rung the bell.