A young Australian mother was shocked to discover that bruises on her four-year-old son – which she thought were the result of energetic play – were instead warning signs of a rare, life-threatening blood disorder..
Doone Breckon noticed bruises on her son Slater’s legs in May last year assumed that they were caused by cycling.
Only later did she realize it the bruises were an abnormally dark purple and began to spread across his legs.
Doone became even more concerned when Slater, now five, complained of stomach pains so he took him to the local doctor in their small town of Clermont in central Queensland.
The alarmed doctor advised the family to rush him to the larger center of Mackay, almost 300 kilometers away, so the Breckons left their 18-month-old daughter with their parents and set off at the start of an anxious journey.
Slater Breckon, now five, had to undergo a bone marrow transplant after he was diagnosed with a rare blood disease
Medics there feared Slater had leukemia, so the Royal Flying Doctor Service flew the family to Brisbane, where further tests revealed that he did not have leukemia but was in fact suffering from aplastic anemia, an extremely rare blood disorder..
The condition, which affects only four in a million people, prevents the bone marrow from producing new blood cells.
The family opted for Slater to undergo a bone marrow transplant, which gives him a 95 percent chance of beating his condition.
Stem cells were flown in from the best donor available, a 20-year-old man from Germany. It was the first time since the Covid pandemic that living stem cells were flown to Australia for a transplant.
Meanwhile, the young family had to get their lives in order, with Slater’s father Dylan Breckon having to drive back to Clermont to pick up the couple’s 18-month daughter, who had been left with grandparents.
He returned with her to Brisbane, a round trip of 2,000 kilometers.
The operation took place in August and the family were told to remain in Brisbane until at least November to ensure Slater received the right treatment – which involved a grueling marathon of blood transfusions, chemotherapy, tests and medications brought along.
“We went to Brisbane with just $300 in the bank and thought, ‘How are we going to do this?'” Ms Breckon told Daily Mail Australia.
Slater Breckon is pictured with his father Dylan, mother Doone and younger sister Frankie
Doone Breckon noticed bruises on her son Slater’s legs in May last year and assumed they were caused by cycling. Only later did she realize that the bruises were an abnormally dark purple and had begun to spread across his legs.
“We were living paycheck to paycheck because we had just moved to the city and Dylan had just gotten a job in the mining industry and he had no annual leave or sick leave.”
a GoFundMe page to help the family pay for housing and medical costs, was set up by Ms Breckon’s boss, Fiona Daley.
“We all know and love Slater and his family – Dylan, Doone and Frankie Breckon, their big hearts and wonderful personalities light up every room they enter!” the fundraiser says.
“As a community we are all heartbroken and at a loss as to how we can help this beautiful family!”
Ms Breckon said the fundraiser achieved its target of raising $50,000 in just three days.
“We were just blown away,” she said.
After the operation, the family suffered a setback in November when complications caused Slater’s kidneys to fail.
During his long rounds of treatment, Slater recited a mantra: “I’m strong, I’m brave, I can beat the bruises!”
However, once this emergency was over, the family received the surprising but welcome news that they could come home for Christmas.
“He’s been doing really well since we got home, he’s very excited,” Mrs Breckon said.
“They (Slater and his sister) are just tackling on the living room floor right now.”
The biggest concern after surgery is that Slater’s body could reject the new cells, known as graft-versus-host disease, but he just passed a major milestone of 100 days without suffering the setback.
However, he hasn’t quite figured it out yet.
“We’re still in the limbo of hoping these cells kick in and hopefully his T cells don’t take over,” Ms Breckon said.
“That’s always in the back of your mind and you try not to dwell on it or worry about it because life is so short and you just have to live.”
“We always tell him to eat your vegetables because broccoli stimulates the red blood cells in your bone marrow.”
After a setback in November, the Breckon family received the surprising but welcome news that they could come home for Christmas
Ms Breckon said the family is taking it day by day.
“No one ever teaches you how to be a parent to a sick child,” she said.
‘He can’t play in the mud, he can’t play in the sand, he has to wear shoes in the garden and animals are a big factor and transmit disease when they lick his skin.
‘Even touching elevator buttons. Little things like that are a huge trigger in our lives.’
However, she said the family is trying to stay positive and “just let him be a little boy.”
“He loves football,” she said.
“(He) plays with his little friends, but we have to make sure he doesn’t touch them or get too close to their faces because germs can spread so easily and it can put us at a disadvantage again.
Slater and father Dylan practice guitar while living in Brisbane for the boy’s treatment
‘Hopefully in a year he will be off all his medications and can live a normal life.’
Slater, who was nicknamed ‘Moo’ after he started calling himself Moo Moo Cowboy Bracken at daycare, had some very special visitors in Brisbane.
His favorite NRL star, retired grandmaster and Maroons State of Origin coach Billy Slater, visited him in hospital and the family also toured the Broncos facilities and met the players.
He also hopes to resume his playing career if he is good enough with his beloved Clermont Bears.