A Routine Check-Up That Changed Everything
In 2008, life was simple for the Monck family from Sale, Victoria. They were a brand-new little family, just navigating the territory of having a newborn baby boy named Ethan, excited about all the possibilities his future held.
It was during a routine maternal health appointment when Ethan was just eight months old that their world began to shift. He wasn’t gaining weight with breast milk alone and it was suggested to introduce formula to supplement his feeds.
“Little did I know that it was going to save Ethan’s life,” recalls Mindy, Ethan’s mother.
That very night, as Mindy gave Ethan his first bottle, she noticed something alarming – one side of his little tummy appeared distended and felt unnaturally hard. Concerned, she made a doctor’s appointment for the next day.
What followed was a whirlwind of scans, referrals to specialists, and finally, the devastating news that no parent is ever prepared to hear: their baby boy had cancer.
“Shock and disbelief is only the beginning of how you feel when your child is diagnosed with cancer,” Mindy would later say.
The First Battle
Ethan was diagnosed with Wilms Tumour, a kidney cancer. Initially, the family remained cautiously optimistic – it was stage one and considered a “good cancer.” Chemotherapy and surgery soon followed, and the Monck family was referred to the Ronald McDonald House in Monash to be their home away from home while baby Ethan underwent treatment.
But their hope quickly faded when, at only 12 months old, Ethan relapsed to stage four. The cancer had spread aggressively to his lungs, with some tumours attached to his pericardium, as well as to his liver.
For over a year, as Ethan underwent intensive chemotherapy, stem cell rescues, multiple surgeries, and radiation therapy, Ronald McDonald House Monash became their sanctuary – a place of stability amid the chaos of a life-threatening illness.
“RMH Monash literally became our home away from home,” Mindy shares. “Ethan wasn’t given much hope of beating this type of cancer, but Ethan being Ethan defied the odds and won that battle.”
A Respite and Return
For most families, the journey of baby Ethan’s recovery would have been the end of their story with Ronald McDonald House. But for the Monck family, it was just the beginning of a long relationship spanning 16 years.
Ethan had overcome the odds as a baby and had been cancer free for years. Life had found a new normal for the family, which now included Ethan’s younger sister, Lilly.
But in 2022, at age 14, their world was upended once again when a new tumour was discovered on Ethan’s remaining kidney. And in February 2024, at age 15, surgery revealed his third cancer diagnosis—a completely different type of kidney cancer called Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma.
A Place That Feels Like Home
Through this 16-year journey of uncertainty, hospital visits, and multiple diagnoses, one thing has remained constant: the support of Ronald McDonald House Charities Victoria & Tasmania.
“It smells like home,” says Ethan, now 17, when describing the Ronald McDonald House.
The Monck family’s home in regional Gippsland, Victoria is 200 kilometres away from the Monash Children’s Hospital. Without Ronald McDonald House, they would face hours of travel for each appointment, expensive accommodation costs, and the emotional strain of being separated during critical treatment periods.
Instead, they found a place that offered not just accommodation, but a true second home, a community of support that has become an integral part of their family’s story.
“The House has become our second home,” Mindy explains. “The people who run it have become friends… They have made our journey so much easier, without them and the house it wouldn’t be as easy to go through what we have and attend as many appointments and scans that Ethan does.”
Even Ethan’s sister Lilly found her own way to show support for her brother’s illness by joining Dance for Sick Kids this year and last. “It was her way of feeling connected to her big brother and being a part of what he is going through,” Mindy explains.
