Mum receives shock news during son’s chemotherapy treatment

Vanessa Kennedy had always felt on edge when it comes to her children’s health, but it was her son Freddie who concerned her the most, not Dash.
Freddie has Down syndrome, and Vanessa, 46, explains: “So many children with Down syndrome develop leukaemia or develop things that require chemotherapy and treatments like that, and it generally happens within the first five years.
“So I spent the first five years holding my breath and checking bloods with my first son, thinking he was going to be in that percentage, because it’s quite a high percentage.”
READ MORE: ‘The funniest guy around’: Beloved Aussie entertainer dies
Five years passed, and the NSW mum felt it was “much less of a risk.”
Vanessa and her husband Don are parents to four boys – Freddie, 15, Preston, 12, Indiana, 10, and Dash, eight.
By the time Dash came along, they had hit their stride and were focused on enjoying their growing family.
It was 2020 and they were preparing to send their children back to school after lockdown.
READ MORE: Rocker reveals he’s welcomed child outside of his marriage
They took the kids to get their teeth cleaned, and the dentist noticed a lump underneath Dash’s jawline.
”He’d bumped his chin on a toybox a little while back and we thought it might just be swelling,” Vanessa recalls.
“It was fortunate that we were in one of the few practices that have their own x-ray machine. You could just see the size of an egg inside his four-year-old jaw.”
The dentists who had gathered didn’t like what they saw.
READ MORE: Get your hands on the shoulder bag you need for summer
“They said, ‘It could be something really basic like a cyst or it could be a cancerous tumour, we don’t know’.
“So straight out of the gate we know it’s something that’s going to have to be dealt with.”
For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here.
From there, things escalated “quickly.” An MRI in a hospital in Newcastle resulted in a referral to Sydney Children’s Hospital, where they performed a biopsy.
“That’s when we realised it wasn’t a cyst, it was a rare desmoid tumour,” Vanessa says.
When they were told it wasn’t cancer, they were initially relieved, but they soon learned that while it was benign, the tumour “acts like cancer and causes disfigurement and there is a possible morality risk.”
They were given two radical options. Dash could have the bottom half of his jaw removed and rebuilt using bone from other parts of his body.
“But because of his age that would be repeated reconstructions as he grew, so they warned against that,” Vanessa says.
It was decided he would instead undergo chemotherapy. 
“We were still only given a 20 to 30 per cent chance it would work,” Vanessa says.
“This is the really hard thing – to put your kids through that only to have a 20 to 30 per cent chance of it working.”
It took a year of chemotherapy, a total of 39 rounds, for the tumour to shrink.
Dash’s condition is now stable, however there is a possibility of regrowth or of tumours in other parts of his body. He will be monitored for the rest of his life.
During Dash’s treatment, Vanessa discovered she would need to undergo a hysterectomy due to “horrific endometriosis.”
However, during scans, something much more serious was discovered.
“I learned that I had renal cancer,” she say.
“By the time they discovered it they said I’d probably had cancer for at least two years.”
Vanessa, who had always put her children first, was forced to step back from caring for them to attend to her own health.
Her husband was stretched very thin. They made the difficult decision to close their business, a store they had operated for over 20 years, to focus on their family.
Don then needed abdominal surgery, and Vanessa had to have more surgery. During that time Vanessa says the operated like a “tag team.”
It was a nightmare, but they got through it, thanks in part to a new service being offered in hospitals called Cancer Hub.
The service connects families like Vanessa’s to Canteen, Camp Quality and Red Kite.
The family started getting help from Red Kite, and when Dash finished treatment a social worker told them about Cancer Hub.
“You get to the end of it and you’re like, what happens now? Because we’re still holding our breath with him and with myself,” Vanessa says.
“Your life is just changed in so many ways and there’s still so many things that you need help and support with.
“So that’s where Cancer Hub helps them because they know all the services and that’s what helps the patient,.”
Despite their hardships, Vanessa always focused on the positives.
“A lot of people want to have an easier life, a comfortable life, and not have that difficulty. But you can live a good life at the same time.”
Vanessa and her family are sharing their story in support of Cancer Hub – A collaboration between Canteen, Camp Quality and Red Kite which is a one stop shop of resources and support for families impacted by cancer.
FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.