This article discusses childhood cancer. Please take care.
Six-year-old Caiden MacGibbon might just be Bluey’s biggest fan.
He’s one of countless Kiwi kids obsessed with the Australian cartoon character, but unlike most of them, Caiden “fell in love” with Bluey while in hospital for treatment for incurable brain cancer.
“They have Sky TV in Starship and it was one of the programmes that we’d watch in there together,” his mum, Jasmine MacGibbon, tells the Herald.
“He just finds it funny. He thinks Bluey is hilarious, cheeky, probably reminds him a bit of himself,” the mum of three laughs.
MacGibbon says she and her husband Karl feel “lucky in an unlucky situation”, as most of those diagnosed with Caiden’s type of cancer - stage four Diffuse Midline Glioma (DMG/DIPG) - have a prognosis of 9 months to a year, while he’s still fighting 20 months on.
“Sadly, 12 months after he had received his first round of radiation, he needed to have another round, which he went through in January and February this year because his tumour had started to grow again and it was causing him to be symptomatic,” MacGibbon says.
“He was unable to lift his head, he was very tired, could hardly walk - he would crawl or he had to be carried. So we kind of suspected that his tumour had started to progress at that time.”
As MacGibbon explains, the “honeymoon period” for a second round of radiation isn’t as long as with the initial round. “So, obviously, there is that fear that’s kicked in behind me now that we don’t know how much time we have left with him.”
Caiden has just started a new medication to target one of the mutations of his cancer and help slow down the growth of his tumour and is coping well so far.
And while they know there’s no cure, his parents want him to have the best quality of life he can in the time he has left.
Karl and Jasmine MacGibbon are fundraising to take their six-year-old son Caiden on his dream trip to Bluey's World.
“In a nightmare of a situation, we feel very lucky that he’s still here fighting alongside us,” MacGibbon says.
Right now, all Caiden knows is that he has a “naughty lump” and that doctors are trying to shrink it.
“Sometimes I wish that he was older so we could have those deep and meaningful conversations.
“But then there is the flip side that he doesn’t know - and I think not knowing sometimes is better in the sense that some people could give up when they know the worst is to come.
“He keeps asking if it will go away when he gets older and we respond with ‘That’s what we hope’,” she says. “So we carry the heaviness of his diagnosis, and let him be as much of a child as he can.”
What they can do is help Caiden tick off as many things on his bucket list as possible, thanks to the kindness of strangers.
“We’ve been very lucky in the sense that he was able to do a helicopter ride, we got to travel to Queensland a few months ago, kindly from people’s donations ... we’ve been able to go on holidays to Kerikeri, go to the parrot place.
Caiden MacGibbon has a cancer called stage four Diffuse Midline Glioma (DMG/DIPG. Photo / Jasmine MacGibbon
“He has a love for birds, so it’s everlasting, the growth that we have with birds because they’re either having babies or he’s wanting to buy more. It’s all about seeing him smile and creating memories, and it’s sad to think that the memories are actually for us.”
“He has this fascination with when he watches TV programmes, whether they be cartoons or not, that he wants to go to their house,” his mum says, adding Caiden even had a Bluey-themed party for his sixth birthday.
“So when Bluey’s World was advertised - that you could actually go into Bluey’s World - he was so excited that every day he talks about it, you know, ‘when are we going to Bluey’s World?’ And that would be a dream come true for him.”
Asked how it would feel to make that dream a reality, MacGibbon is overcome with emotion. “I don’t think he’d want to leave it ... it would be very special,” she says.
“While we’re watching the happiness that he’s experiencing from these things, we still have this heaviness. I wish that I could do more. I wish that I could cure him. All I have is to be able to fulfil his dreams. It would make us incredibly happy just to see his dreams being granted for him.”
Mum of three Jasmine MacGibbon is grateful to all those who have donated to help her family. Photo / Jasmine MacGibbon
MacGibbon and her husband both stopped work when their son was diagnosed. “You know, we don’t have years with our child and we get little very little Government support. And that’s why we’ve been having to fundraise to be able to be at home and to be able to grant his wishes.
“My mum has been amazing ... she gave up work to help us out. She is my best friend, she goes above and beyond for us.”
However, the Auckland mum says she has been “getting some hate” for fundraising. “It’s really sad ... I guess because they’re not in our situation, they don’t have the understanding.”
But for herself and her family, the love and generosity of people they don’t know have outweighed the negativity - and she wants to share her gratitude to those who have donated to Caiden’s Givealittle page so far.
“I want to say thank you to everyone that has supported us, because this journey has shown us who our true people are and a lot of them are strangers. So we are so thankful for those people that are standing by us and helping us. We feel like we have a village.”
