Two-year-old Mavrik Turnbull, a Prince George boy fighting cancer in BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, has taken a turn for the worse.
Days after his father Derek posted on a GoFundMe webpage that chemotherapy treatments were having the desired effect of shrinking a tumour in his son’s abdomen and that his cancer has not spread, Mavrik suddenly developed a blood infection Sunday that is threatening his life.
“His blood levels have dropped to where the doctors expected them to after chemo and he’s needed two blood transfusions and platelet transfusions and now he’s on antibiotics because he’s contracted a blood infection,” said Derek, Tuesday morning.
“He’s spiked a fever and he’s not really eating right now. He’s still drinking water but his heart rate is really elevated, his respiratory rate is really elevated and he’s just not having the best time right now. That started Sunday night and it’s just gotten progressively worse.”
Doctors have him on an intravenous feed of strong antibiotics until they can pinpoint the type of infection he’s developed.
“It could be that he’s allergic to the central line they’ve put in and something got in through the central line because he doesn’t have IVs in his hands anymore,” said Derek. “He’s got a main-line IV that is twinned, so it comes in through his chest and goes in to an artery in his neck and one goes down close to entering his heart.
“That’s where they run antibiotics and chemo, through those lines. It’s not common but kids can get infections through there and it causes blood tract infection, which he currently has.”
Until Sunday, Mavrik was making steady progress. The tumour, which had grown to about a four-inch cube, was showing signs of shrinkage and he was starting feel better and was in less pain.
“He’s awake but his respiratory rate is super high and his heart rate fluctuates around 160 per minute,” said Derek. “You can see he’s just uncomfortable. He wants sleep but it’s hard to when he’s unable to rest or relax.
“The chemo is doing its job. Now he’s on the recovery period so there was five days of chemo. It takes 21 days to recover from chemo and we’re in Day 11 of this round.”
Mavrik will continue to undergo blood tests to try to pinpoint the cause of what doctors suspect is a bacterial infection and that’s expected to take three or four days. Surgical removal of his tumour was ruled out because it grew around his aortic artery.
“All of the other (cancer) tests came back negative, so it didn’t spread to his bone marrow, didn’t spread to any other neurological part,” said Derek. “The tumour did react to chemo and it’s not sticking out of his abdomen anymore. The levels in his blood showed the tumour is starting to break down.”
Derek, a heavy-duty mechanic, and wife Vanessa, a social worker, have been in Vancouver at Mavrik’s bedside ever since he was flown there by air ambulance on Oct. 25. The Turnbulls have been told their son, diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma, will need to remain at BC Children’s for the next 18-24 months to receive his treatments.
Derek will have to take significant time off his job to make frequent trips to Vancouver and will be back and forth while overseeing joint custody of his two daughters in Prince George from a previous relationship and their dog Tikka.
The Turnbulls are staying next to the hospital at Ronald McDonald House and that’s been a godsend helping them through their ordeal.
“Children’s Hospital is fantastic and the staff is great, it’s just a lot, being away from home,” said Derek. “We have family coming down as much as possible, seeing him and seeing us. That’s been great.”
The GoFundMe page campaign has raised $37,030 of its $50,000 goal as of Tuesday morning.
Derek says he and his family can’t believe how much their son’s plight has touched the hearts of people who want to help.
“It’s unfathomable,” said Derek. “I’m not one to ask for anything, my motto is just work harder. But seeing how much the community and everybody has gotten behind us, it’s craziness. We’re definitely feeling it down here.”
