Helping Ben fight against Cancer. - Ben Hutton’s story of fighting Ewing Sarcoma.

Ben became significantly unwell during lockdown of 2020, and it wasn't until august 2020 that Ben was diagnosed with localised Ewing Sarcoma in the 9th rib. Ewing Sarcoma is a very rare and aggressive form of Bone Cancer.

This devastated our family, however we had to stay positive and move swiftly into high dose chemotherapy treatments. Ben underwent 14 rounds of high dose Chemotherapy and underwent a surgery to remove two ribs where his cancerous growth was, all at Starship.

Our sweet Ben was diagnosed with relapse on Friday last week, after a biopsy confirmed his Ewing Sarcoma was back and that he had two cancerous growths, one in his shoulder and the other in his lung. Ewing Sarcoma is a type of Cancer that very few people worldwide suffer with, let alone inside New Zealand. Therefore little is known surrounding how to treat recurrent Ewing Sarcoma. Which means a lot of treatment options belong to clinical trials, and may involve seeking care from doctors from outside of the country in order to get the best possible care for Ben.

Ben is now 18, he is facing the possibility of being transferred to adult oncology care where they will change his doctors and he won't be entitled to the same support from family he had in starship previously. Whilst being the biggest advocates fighting for Ben, his Mum, Kat and his Dad, Ray both have to continue to work full time during Ben's treatment. Whilst also caring for their 4 school age children.