Ride 4 Luka

Please Help! 

Luka Monroe, was a healthy and very active 5 year old living in Byron Bay with his wonderful family; Mother Usa, Father Ben and Sisters Isabella and Larita.  Luka was a budding motorcycle racer and loved his surfing and fishing.

Just last week Luka developed sharp stabbing pains in his tummy.  Within 48 hrs he was in the back of an ambulance being transferred to the Queensland Children's Hospital, where he was preliminary diagnosed with a large tumour in his left kidney, around the size of a naval orange!

After a bunch of scans and other tests, the cancerous tumour has been classed as a stage 3, having bled into Luka's body and the root cause of his stabbing pains.  His treatment is a priority as now there is a chance the cancer could spread with the bleed.

Luka has already undergone surgery to insert a port device in his chest to facilitate his chemo and other therapies.  On top of this, he will undergo radiation therapy in the hope the cancer tumour can be reduced and then removed along with his left kidney.  All up Luka will undergo 9 cycles, each cycle being 3 weeks of chemo treatment and include 5 radiation treatments.  In addition to chemo, Luka will require major surgery to remove the cancerous tumour and his left kidney between cycles 4 & 5.  The total treatment time will be around 28weeks or 200 days.

During this time Luka and his mother must stay close to the Queensland Children's Hospital incase of complications like infections.  If his health allows, he will be allowed a few days at home before he begins his next cycle of treatment.

Luka will require regular health screening over a 4 year period to ensure the treatment was successful.  The prognosis is good and the team of Doctors have confidence in Lukas strength to overcome his illness. 

We have decided to put this fundraiser together to show our support for Luka and his family.  They have a long road ahead for what should’ve been the happiest time of their lives with Luka having just started Primary School.

Any money raised will go directly towards helping them fund the costs of their upcoming battle through this difficult time;  specifically professional nutritional support for Luka, travel costs incurred to and from the hospital not covered by Medicare for their family and carers (Byron Bay to Brisbane), support care for Luka's sister Larita, loss of income for Usa who will care full-time for Luka and other direct costs related to Luka's ongoing treatments not covered under Medicare.  Any funds remaining will be donated to organisations such as Childhood Cancer Support, RedKite, The Starlight Foundation and other organisations who will be instrumental in the support of Luka and his family during these tough times.

Luka hopes to one day return to the active life he loves and give hope to other kids in their fight with cancer. 

If you would like to jump on board and show your support, any donation, however small, would be much appreciated and mean so much. Please join the #ride4luka campaign.