Baby Wally was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that developed behind his eye. Photo / Supplied
Baby Wally was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that developed behind his eye. Photo / Supplied
A pregnant South Australian mother is unable to hold her own son after his eye infection was later diagnosed as something much more serious.
Wally, who is eight months old, was taken to the GP with a red eye, and prescribed antibiotics for what was believed to be a simple infection.
But on July 26, doctors at Adelaide's Women's and Children's Hospital told parents Carol Montgomery-Dwyer, 26, and Daniel Reece, 30, their son had Rhabdomyosarcoma — a rare type of cancer that forms in muscle tissue.
He has lost his vision in the affected eye, which is now bulging out of his head, and must undergo a gruelling 42 weeks of chemotherapy in a bid to prolong his life.
The treatment has been "painful" in parts, Montgomery-Dwyer said, but the Brompton mother is only able to hold her son for minutes at a time due to the risk his high levels of radiation pose to her pregnancy.
"I can't hold him for more than 10 minutes at a time because he's completely radioactive," she said.
"I can't change nappies. I pretty much have to watch dad do everything ... It's really hard."
Wally's mum Carol Montgomery-Dwyer, pictured with dad Daniel Reece, said her son was still "a happy, energetic boy". Photo / Supplied
As a result, Reece, a chef, has become Wally's full-time carer and has stopped working.
Wally's devastated mother said her son's second diagnosis left her "in shock".
"I honestly didn't hear anything after they told me it was cancer," she said.
"I'm going through moments of breaking down and then just feeling completely numb, like it's not real, because he's still such a happy, energetic little boy right now.
"It doesn't feel real.
"We're not coping well at all."
Ms Montgomery-Dwyer said the family were considering traveling to the UK for Wally's further treatment. Photo / Supplied
She explained Wally would likely need a second treatment in the future to give him the best chance of survival.
The parents' two options for those treatments are radiotherapy or to travel to the United Kingdom for two and half months of proton therapy - which is their preferred form of treatment but not available in Australia.
There were initial concerns Montgomery-Dwyer, who is currently 14-weeks pregnant with her second child, may not be in a position to travel to the UK because she would be too pregnant to fly.
But, the mother said a meeting with a radiology team had now been scheduled for next week to discuss possible plans, which could see the family travel within weeks and Montgomery-Dwyer give birth in a UK hospital.
"At least I could go be there with my partner and Wally... I couldn't imagine doing all of that by yourself.
"It's still uncertain and scary and we don't know the costs of having a baby in the UK yet."
Wally, who recently learnt to crawl, was still progressing with his development, according to his mother, and enjoyed waving hello to the nurses in the hospital.
Ms Montgomery-Dwyer described her firstborn as a "very happy", "strong" and "brave little boy".
"For a little baby, he has a big personality... nothing is holding him back.
"He's his old self — just running around, squealing and just being a Wally."
A GoFundMe page has been set up, aiming to raise $30,000 to help pay for treatments and general bills.
