The emotional words of a Te Anau father describes the tough battle he and his family have been fighting since his 19-month-old son Luka was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma cancer, with cancer in his stomach, legs and skull area.
His parents Katelyn and Toby Pascoe knew they could not change the reality.
But they decided they would be positive and do everything possible to show that cancer did not just get to take over and win. Underneath all of this, it was a child who was fighting every day while living and enjoying life as any young child should be able to.
"Our whole philosophy is that we can't change what has happened and there is no point trying to hide from the reality of this," Mr Pascoe said.
"Cancer doesn't just win. Luka is not cancer and cancer is not Luka. He is a lovely child who is very kind."
Mr Pascoe said their journey started about two months ago when they noticed their son was struggling to walk.
After a series of scans and exams, they were told Luka had high-risk stage three neuroblastoma cancer and because of the level it had spread through his body, he had a 50% chance of surviving.
"This was probably the toughest moment of our lives."
The family was sent to Christchurch where they will live at Ronald McDonald House for 16 months while Luka undergoes treatment including chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy and surgery.
The family turned their lives around to ensure Luka had the best care and support at this difficult time and his parents decided to create the website "Luka’s Journal" to share his story and potentially help other people going through the same thing.
"The idea of the Luka’s Journal [website] is to be able to hopefully one day show him what he survived and how many people supported him," Mr Pascoe said.
"When he is an older child or a teenager, he can go through whatever tough time he has then."
A GoFundMe page has been set up and a fundraiser quiz night will be held tonight at the Invercargill Workingmen’s Club to help the family with medical costs.
Tickets are sold out but a virtual live auction will be running from 7.30pm so any person around the world can help the family, people can access the live auction here.
Mr Pascoe said he was overwhelmed by and thankful for the immense support the family was getting.
At the moment they were working hard to keep Luka’s day-to-day life fun and filled with positivity.
"He is a very loving and very kind child. While he is getting through chemotherapy, he always makes sure that we have food and are good. We are absolutely proud of our son."
