It was his seize-the-day attitude that saw Toby represent New Zealand just two years after the tumour was removed.
As part of the World Class Waikato Next Generation Charity Challenge, where local athletes and charities team up to raise funds, Toby has teamed up with the Child Cancer Foundation.
The challenge runs through the Telecom Give A Little website, where people can donate.
World Class Waikato (WCW) is a high performance athlete sustainability organisation based in Hamilton, and aims to help the region's top athletes gain the resources they need to continue in their sport.
The avid rower was hooked from his first time in the boat.
"We had some family friends that [rowed] and they asked me if I wanted to join and I told my mum I don't want to go because I knew about the early mornings.
"She said 'don't be rude, you're going'. I woke up the next morning at some ridiculous hour and went down and the first time in the boat I just loved it and mum couldn't stop me going back."
Doctors cannot put an exact time on when the tumour started, but Toby says he noticed his hand writing deteriorating early in the year.
"I'd concentrate as hard as I could. I changed thumbs I was texting with. All these things slowly added up but I didn't put them together."
He says the symptoms became far worse after a game of 'held' where someone of the opposing team had the ball, Toby tackled him but the opponent jumped at the same time, throwing them both backwards.
"I landed on my head. If you can imagine everything you see now, so the message your brain is receiving, it was twisted like a broken movie and then flick back.
"I had never been concussed before so I thought that is what a concussion felt like. I got up and tried to walk and fell straight over."
He saw a doctor immediately who sent him home with medication for an ear infection, but Toby kept having symptoms and migraines increased.
Eventually an MRI scan diagnosed Toby and he was rushed to Starship for immediate surgery.
Toby says one of the most terrifying moments he has endured was after being rushed to hospital, the surgeon told him there was a possibility he may never wake up from the operation, even though the chance was slim.
He says he wants other people to take from his experience and not have to go through something to realise how precious life is, and you just have to get out there and do it.
"I dedicated and committed myself to everything. It led to a lot of things like representing New Zealand for the first time. That also led to leadership roles, I was head prefect in my final year of college."
One of his struggles during recovery was not being able to participate in sport.
"It was amazing when I went back to school I was exhausted after just two sessions of class.
"My surgeon told me I wasn't able to do any contact sports for the rest of my life and that I wasn't to play any sport what so ever for two and a half months because at the time I took two phys ed classes.
"I tried to tell my teachers that I was allowed to go back prior to the allotted time period but mum knew that would happen and she had rung and told them."
Toby says once he had the all clear he immediately got back in the boat, determined to give it his all. Now in the all clear, there has been no sign of the tumour since the operation, but he has to undergo regular testing, now every two years.
Funds raised in the charity challenge will be split between the athlete, charity, and WCW.
To donate to Toby and the Child Cancer Foundation for the Next Generation Charity Challenge, go to: https://www.givealittle.co.nz/cause/Toby
