Parents in cruel battle
Kids come first for couple in cancer treatment
Two little girls on the Gold Coast are facing the unthinkable after both their young parents were diagnosed with stage four cancer.
It seems a twist of fate too cruel to be true, but Mermaid Waters couple Claire and Aaron Groot, married for 10 years, are both in the battle of their lives – to save themselves and their family.
While the parents try to prevent their five and seven-yearold children from worrying too much, Mrs Groot, first diagnosed with triple-positive breast cancer in 2019, said the situation has just become even more serious after Mr Groot’s latest results showed his cancer had unexpectedly spread.
But it’s not the first time the pair have fought back.
Twelve months after Mrs Groot was first treated for cancer, she received the devastating diagnosis for a second time. Ten months after that, the cancer was back again … but she’s never given up.
“There are still spots on my spine and I still have a port and so many appointments, but my last few scans have stayed the same,” she said.
“It hasn’t gone away and it’s not expected it will go away – although that is what I’m chasing – but it hasn’t grown.
“If these drugs stop working, then we just try the next one and the next one until we have no options.”
Now the situation is critical for her husband.
Both fit, active and healthy parents, the pair were shocked when the keen cyclist was diagnosed with aggressive melanoma just before his 40th birthday.
Especially as Mr Groot had seen his doctor three times about a growth on his face, with the doctor only removing it when he insisted.
“There is a history of skin cancer in Aaron’s family. His mum told him to get it checked out but the doctor said it was fine. Then it grew so he went back, they still said don’t worry,” Mrs Groot said.
“Finally it was starting to ooze and he kept nicking it when shaving so he insisted they remove it because it was so annoying.
“Two days later they called to say the routine biopsy showed it was aggressive can
cer and to come straight back in. Then we found out it had already spread and was stage 3b.”
That was in July last year. Since then, Mr Groot has had intensive and invasive surgery in Sydney, where muscle was taken from the top of his leg to be used in his neck where doctors had cut away a tumour.
He also required skin grafts for his face and neck. Doctors were confident they had removed all cancer but prescribed a course of radiotherapy to “mop up” any cells left behind.
Three weeks ago, Aaron received the worst news yet.
Scans showed the disease was back and had spread to his liver and bones, meaning he was now in stage four of cancer.
Mrs Groot said he recently started a new immunotherapy treatment and was also undertaking an extensive integrative protocol to maximise the effectiveness of treatment.
“His next scan is in three weeks, so we are quietly terrified,” she said.
“If this hasn’t worked, there is really not much else we can do in Australia. We would need to look overseas, most likely in America, but I haven’t got my head around it all yet.
“I’m on the treadmill of my own treatments and we’re trying to keep life as normal as we can for the girls, but we will not let cancer beat us.
“Both Aaron and I have had to wind back our work, and our workplaces have been so supportive, but we have to put all our focus on survival right now.”
Unfortunately, part of that survival plan means immense medical bills.
Mrs Groot said Medicare only went so far, so the proud pair had been encouraged by family to launch a Gofundme page.
“We have always been the family who gives to charity, we never thought we would be the charity,” she said.
“Our families have helped so much, but the mountain we face is so huge, we just can’t do it without help.
“But we are so lucky to live in a city like the Gold Coast and a neighbourhood like Mermaid and Miami.
“The school and local families and residents have gone above and beyond looking after us and our girls.
“I just can’t think about a future where we’re not there for our daughters, so we have to use every avenue we have to keep fighting.”
His mum told him to get it checked out but the doctor said it was fine. Then it grew so he went back Claire Groot