WA family shocked as healthy 13-year-old diagnosed with cancer of the thymus
It was an ordinary day at football training when the 13-year-old from Collie, Western Australia, felt early signs of the thymoma — a tumour that develops on the thymus gland.
Kobi's mother Charli Rowden said that was the start of a life-changing and terrifying journey.
"The coach was concerned because the chest pain came on so randomly — he didn't get any hits or anything like that," she said.
Initial check-ups failed to find anything unusual but a couple of days later doctors contacted the family about a mass visible on Kobi's X-ray.
He was taken to the hospital in Bunbury for additional tests.
"I just kept telling Kobi, 'Oh it will be nothing, mate — we have to check what it is and make sure everything is OK," Ms Rowden said.
"And then to be told, while I was standing up, that it could be a cancerous tumour on his thymus — it was horrible.
"[It's] very scary … he was such a fit, healthy kid.
"The scariest part is that they don't really know [much about it] or where it could go … they have actually gone and contacted doctors in other countries that may have seen this, all over the world."
Thymomas impact less than 1 per cent of cancer patients each year and are typically detected in people between the ages of 40 and 60.
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre oncologist Tom John said it was a "very, very uncommon" condition that affected the organ responsible for training the immune system.
"Most medical oncologists wouldn't see a thymoma in their lifetime … and it's very uncommon in young people," he said.
"[It] sits very close to the heart and some of the big vessels in your chest, and that can certainly cause some symptoms like pain and shortness of breath that [it's important] you don't ignore."
Dr John said he had seen a lot of "success stories" over the years when it came to treating the condition.
"If you do find a cancer like this early, it's usually curable," he said.
"We've had many patients who are cured just with surgery or in some cases we've given chemotherapy up front followed by surgery, and in some cases we have given radiation combined with chemotherapy and they have been cured.
"If they're detected early and can be cut out, they're curable — we've certainly had quite a few success stories with thymoma.
Kobi is recovering in hospital after a long but successful surgery this week to remove the mass.
He has several months of recovery ahead but stepfather Tayler Leadbitter said he was feeling positive and keen to get back home.
"It's been bloody horrible," Mr Leadbitter said.
"We do a lot of hunting, fishing, four-wheel driving – anything to do with the bush and outdoors – to now the complete opposite, stuck in Perth.
"There's not a lot of people to talk to — it's quite isolated and quite hard."
Mr Leadbitter said he was already planning a family trip for when Kobi was healthy again.
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