What a wig means to Jaxon

On January 21, Tauranga's Charmaine Garner and Dion Mair were in a position no parent wants to be in.

Their 5-year-old son Jaxon Mair was in Starship children's hospital, with a specialist appointment set for 7.30am to try to ascertain if he had a cancerous tumor in his kidney.


Five-year-old Jaxon Mair with father Dion Mair, mum Charmaine Garner and sister four-month-old Georgia Mair. Photo: Daniel Hines.

But 2.30am Charmaine, who was 39 weeks pregnant, felt a niggle. By 5am she'd woken Dion, telling him she was in labour.

'I said: ‘I think we need to go' and Dion was like: ‘Are you serious?'”

'It [Jaxon's appointment] was kind of on my mind the whole time.”

The couple were sent through the ‘tunnel' from Starship to Auckland City Hospital. By 8.33am, thankfully, Charmaine had given birth to little Georgia Mair without complications – to be wheel-chaired back to be at Jaxon's bedside by 2pm.

A few weeks before Jaxon had fallen off his mountain bike at Rotorua's Redwoods. 'On a Monday, he was complaining of pains in his stomach so I thought ‘Oh I'll keep him home for a cruisy day',” says Charmaine.

'Tuesday morning he was still sore so we went to the doctor, who thought it was his appendix and sent us straight to Tauranga Hospital.”

The emergency department wasn't sure what it was so Jaxon was sent to paediatrics.

'They did some bloods, urine tests and a chest x-ray and nothing showed up.” The next morning an ultrasound was done. 'They wanted to double-check his appendix but couldn't find it because it was behind his bowel.

'As they were looking for his appendix they came across a tumour in his kidney.”

Jaxon was diagnosed with Wilms' tumour – or nephroblastoma – a rare kidney cancer that primarily affects children. 'It was just pure chance they found it,” says Charmaine.

'We put it down to the fall off his mountain bike. They think it aggravated the tumour and pumped a whole lot of blood into it which caused the pain. Because normally that kind of tumour has no side effects – it usually grows until it protrudes outside the body.”

After Georgia was born, and Starship specialists confirmed the diagnosis at the end of January, Jaxon had half of his kidney removed. 'Normally, it's the whole kidney – but because we caught it so early they tried to save the bottom half of the kidney and they did.”

One organisation has scooped up the Mair family and wrapped arms of support firmly around them the whole way through the ordeal. The Child Cancer Foundation.

CCF's Tauranga family support coordinators Debbie Hockley rang them. 'She's just been amazing. She's the most lovely, warm, caring lady.”

She bought a few things for Jaxon to warm to her when all sorts of people were coming and going in his life. 'She started his beads as well – which he loves getting along the way and now has more than 100, with each one having a different meaning and significance.”

But the support unfurls further.

Debbie organises all sorts of support for the Mairs, from firewood for their home to being the in-between person that's put them in touch with other help organisations.

'She is so upbeat and positive and we're so thankful to have her on our team,” says Charmaine.

Debbie visits every few weeks – and hasn't stopped. 'You can chew her ear off if you need to. The other day she organised a grandparents' coffee group. My mum got lots from it.”

Charmaine says CCF continually organise events for children or parents. 'The sad thing is knowing many of the children cannot attend because they're too sick or cannot be in environments harmful to their health.

'It can be a very hard and lonely time for both children and parents. But CCF also offers great support for siblings of children who are suffering from cancer too.”

Charmaine says it's also really nice to have someone they know has other families going through the same thing. 'She's just someone there to listen when everyone else's life is still going on and ours feels at times like it has ground to a halt."

Jaxon's had 10 weeks of chemotherapy on a weekly basis and is about to finish a second stint of three-weekly treatment, for nine weeks, on June 21st.

'He'll also have a CT scan and MRI which he needs to go under for on his last day of chemo – so it will be a pretty big day.”

Then it's regular monitoring. He'll have his port – or magic box – in for the next three months and then surgery to remove it.

Charmaine says Jaxon sort of knows what's going on. 'He doesn't like to go to treatment. 'But kids are just so resilient – they don't get caught up in the ‘what could happen' because they don't dwell on the now and live for every moment."

'He doesn't appreciate it how big it is, I think.”

And what about mum and dad? 'It was very much like a dream at the beginning. But I guess you have to stay strong for the kids.

'The first three weeks were the hardest because we just didn't know. You have your moments, but you do it when no one's looking.”

And when they go for treatment, they always go as a family.

Plus, Jaxon's proving the doctors wrong so far. He didn't lose his hair – and he's been going to school here and there. Both things they said wouldn't happen this year.

And CCF's support doesn't stop once Jaxon's treatment stops. 'I suppose we're just like family now. But it's a fabulous supportive family to be part of and has made a huge difference to our lives so I hope lots of people can get behind the upcoming fundraiser,” says Charmaine.

The Child Cancer Foundation is hosting a new fundraiser – called Wig Wednesday – on June 22. Schools, businesses, families and friends are encouraged to don a wig and fundraise to support the foundation.

Money raised will help provide practical, financial and emotional support to Kiwi children –like Jaxon – and their families.

To register or donate to Wig Wednesday, click here.

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