On the 1st March Tara, Junior, Wilbur, Alfie and Winnie were out on a family walk on a hot Alice Springs evening...the biggest thing on Tara's mind was wondering what to do for her 40th birthday which was coming up in a few days. Then their world changed forever - instead of celebrating 4 decades of life, they learned that Wilbur was very sick and it was the beginning of a long journey dealing with 4 stages of cancer.

What they thought was a tummy ache was actually a giant tumour on his kidney that had ruptured. Tara and Wilbur were evacuated to Adelaide and once Wilbur was stable enough, they were transferred to Melbourne. From there they found the cancer had spread to his lungs, liver, lymph nodes and, in a devastating update, that Wilbur has the unfavourable cell type which is more resistant to treatment.

Since March it has been a journey of surgery, chemo, radiotherapy., more chemo, tests, scans and holding onto hope that Wilbur would recover..but he has not won. He has been so brave throughout all this uncertainty and tolerated all of the appointments, driving, the fasting, new environments and travel. What a precious soul.

Back in October Wilbur turned 4. He was just like the healthiest version of himself - stalking through the gardens pretending to be a lion, enjoying cake and gifts, tree climbing and games with his friends. Despite the reasons for being in Victoria, Tumi has had a wonderful time in Melbourne and Queens Park has been his ultimate place every day.

Now he has returned to Alice Springs to spend what time he has left in his home on the Country that brought him to life.

Thank you so much to everyone for all of your kindness and making it possible for Tara, Junior, Alfie, Winnie, Wilbur and Gail to be where they needed to be without the financial burden, creating stability for the kids and each other - the lending of cars/houses, the hugs, walks, meals, laughs and tears - everything - thank you.

This fundraiser has been phenomenal and we're so grateful. Yet the family need our continued support to move through the next steps of life and end-of-life care. Please donate what you can and share throughout your community - every gesture helps.

Thank you / Asanteni sana