Our Dads Journey with Brain Cancer

Russell Graham Joseph McCarthy is 75 years old. He has 8 children; 24 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. He spent most of his life nursing bed ridden people at St. John of God hospital with unconditional love and support. He has dedicated his life for caring for others, and now we're trying to give back. About two weeks ago, we recently discovered a tumour on his brain after dad had a fall and hit his head. He has been in hospital since then and a week ago had a Craniotomy to remove this tumour.

Yesterday we discovered that this tumour is cancerous, a stage 4 Glioblastoma tumour. The survival rate for this prognosis is 12-15 months. We are all severely devastated with this news, especially Russell as there are many things he would still love to do with his family.

Russell would love to visit Stewart Island, go on the Northern Explorer train between Auckland-Wellington, visit Haast, Hokitika and many other places. Russell and the McCarthy family are not rich in money; most living day to day only but they are rich in care and love for each other. Spread out across NZ and Australia, his family will need to start caring for Russell as he starts his journey of incurable brain cancer. His children will need to take unpaid leave; travel and take care of dad during a roster system. In the next few months; he wants his family to be able to make long lasting experiences with him of a positive nature. The family cannot do this without your help. Every little bit you could kindly donate will help this run of the mill kiwi family, create lasting memories and provide dad with a quality of care only family can give. Thank you so, so much. Kia Kaha.

Update: Yesterday we meet with the wonderful Oncology department to speak about treatment options for dad. The tumour will not go away. Dad has chosen to have 3 weeks of radiation therapy which includes 5 day a week treatment. He may or may not have Chemotherapy. Without these therapy options the likelihood of the tumour growing back at a fast rate is very high which means his life expectancy is about 3-6 months. Therefore, with both treatments this means dads life will continue for only a few months longer than expected. This is devastating news for both dad and the family. We have been told the next two months between treatment would be the best time to do activities with dad and fulfil any of his wishes. Thank you so much.