Mindy Monck will never forget the Christmas she felt so sad she simply “couldn’t smile”.
Her beautiful 18-month-old son, Ethan, was facing the fight of his life following a devastating kidney cancer diagnosis.
Instead of excitedly waiting for Santa and tearing wrapping paper off his toys under the tree like other little boys his age, Ethan was heavily sedated, having just undergone gruelling surgery at Monash Children’s Hospital, 200km away from his home in Sale, Victoria.
“Christmas Day was quite a hard day for us,” an emotional Mindy tells Woman’s Day.
“Ethan wasn’t able to open his eyes or his presents. It was his first Christmas where he could acknowledge it. He should have been able to open those gifts, [have] us see the happiness on his face, but unfortunately that wasn’t our reality.”
REMEMBER FOREVER
With Mindy and her husband David living hours from the medical support their son so desperately needed, the couple were offered free accommodation inside Ronald McDonald House in the grounds of the hospital.
The house where the family stayed is going strong. It has two self-contained units and 13 rooms, which can be configured to accommodate families, meaning those living there while their child undergoes hospital treatment can receive support from caring volunteers and other families going through similar experiences.
That Christmas, the selfless volunteers at the House put on a lunch and it’s a gift Mindy will forever remember.
“Dave and I were able to go away from the hospital and try and find some normalcy,” says Mindy. “Amongst the devastation that we were going through, that was the true meaning of Christmas spirit that day. What that house provided was beyond words.”
The family’s connection with Ronald McDonald House has spanned 16 long years. Ethan has spent more than 600 nights there, and to this day says it “smells like home”.
During one particularly harrowing time, after Ethan suffered a relapse, he and his mum lived in a unit there for an entire year.
“We all hear about the house – like it’s not an unknown thing – but the biggest thing is you don’t truly understand what it means until you know someone that has to use it or you have to use it yourself,” Mindy explains. “I’ll never forget walking through those doors the very first day, and just how welcoming everyone was.”
The volunteers have been there for Mindy, David, and Ethan’s sister Lilly, 14, during milestone moments and heartbreaking ones – including just last year when a different cancer left Ethan deeply unwell.
“I remember David saying to me that day that he actually didn’t think he would see Ethan again,” Mindy recalls. “But, you know, that house gave us the time just to be together and face something that was so uncertain.”
SMILES & TEARS
While his treatment continues, the bright 17-year-old is building and programming his own robot from scratch. He has also picked up some shifts working at his local Macca’s!
“When Ethan walked out ofthe store telling me he got the job I did cry some happy tears,” Mindy admits. “The smile on his face told me that he’d achieved something that he didn’t honestly think that he was going to because of all his health issues.”
Today, Ethan works one day a week in the Macca’s kitchen, something his former chef mum has prepped him well for.
“I’m so proud of the person Ethan has become through everything that he’s done,” Mindy says. “He’s overcome so many challenges, and he’s become the best version of himself.”
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