17th December, 2003

Being told your 12-year-son has cancer is something that thankfully most of us never have to face. But for Dee Jobson, in July this year, that became her reality when she was told her son Liam had a tumour in his leg. She spoke with DAVID ADAMS about how God is helping her and her family face what is an ongoing challenge...

Dee Jobson doesn’t hesitate when asked about the day she was told her 12-year-old son Liam had cancer.

“It was 24th of July this year,” the 36-year-old mother of two says when she spoke to Sight in mid-November.

“He had a pain in his leg and it was a couple of weeks after he had a slight injury so we took him for x-rays and the tumour showed up in the x-ray.”

Liam Jobson   "God’s done wonderful things in (Liam) already. He’s just put us to shame with his coping.” - Dee Jobson

It turned out to be a malignant tumour in the inside of his right femur.

“They said it should be curable, that it was definitely malignant and would involve probably up to 12 months chemotherapy and in the middle of all that, surgery,” Dee recalls.

She says while her reaction was initially one of indignation - “how can my son have a tumour?” - “when it penetrated it was cancer - and people die from cancer - I freaked out”.

It was then that she turned to God for reassurance and her faith in God.

“I wouldn’t be sitting here talking about it if God wasn’t on my side, believe me,” says Dee who lives in Ocean Grove with her husband Malcolm, daughter Sarah and Liam.

“He’s always done that in my life. If I’ve made silly mistakes, it’s like He know’s I’m going to make those mistakes but He’ll put something or somebody in my path to make the outcome less horrific...

“And I feel like He’s done that now, I really do. When I speak it out, I’m so sure of the outcome of this. I know in my heart Liam will get through this. It may involve a bit of lifestyle changing but it’s obviously for a reason. I was getting a bit too caught up in the worldliness again and I think God’s grounding me, saying these are what are the most important things. My kids are precious to me and I probably wasn’t letting them realise just how precious they were. Now they know.”

Since being diagnosed, Liam has undergone extensive chemotherapy and, in mid-November, chose to undergo several hours of surgery at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne to have the tumour removed.

This involved removing the mid section of Liam’s leg - including his knee and the cancerous tumour, then rotating the lower part of his leg and foot and reattaching them to his thigh at a height that he’ll grow into as he gets older. A prosthetic foot will be added later.

“So he’ll actually have three quarters of his own leg, but the heel of his foot is in his kneecap. It’s amazing to see it, absolutely amazing. It gives him the most normal functioning limb outside of his own leg...” says Dee.

Baptised about a year and a half ago, Dee says she first asked God into her life back when she was 10-years-old.

She says that in recent months God has been preparing her for what was to come.

“Once you ask God into your life, He doesn’t actually go anywhere, you just may not choose to listen. He sort of made His voice loud and clear about a year and a half ago and I think it was to prepare us for this.”

Dee says a recent series of sermons she heard on stewardship also helped to prepare her for what was to come.

“I guess in the most simplistic terms, as a parent, you’re aware you’ve only got your children for a short time because they go off and make their own lives. As a Christian, it sort of occurred to me that these are God’s children and I’m their care-giver; I’m a steward on (God’s) behalf. They’re only mine for a short amount of time but they’re his forever and I just need to do the best job I can and I can’t afford now to be the time when it all falls apart.

"I keep telling Liam he’s precious - who he is isn’t cosmetic. It’s not about his foot or whatever. It’s about who he is: he’s bright, handsome, he draws people to him. God’s done wonderful things in him already. He’s just put us to shame with his coping.”

Dee - who took leave from her work at a local sunglasses shop when she discovered Liam had cancer - says she believes God has also ensured the family’s material needs have so far been met. She recalls one instance in which a collection was gathered at church, enabling them to pay all their bills for that week with $26 to spare and another when a cheque for more than $1,000 arrived from Ocean Grove Primary School who had held a fund-raising day.

“It was the most amazing thing. God does provide when you need it the most.”

Dee says she’s also had prayers answered time and again.

“I’ve prayed to God, please - you perform a miracle here because only you can make his counts drop low enough that he can come home tonight because he’ll be devastated if he can’t. I was told at 9am that there’s no way he’s going home...then at 6pm that night, the registrar comes in and says ‘You’re not going to believe this - go’. I said ‘We are soon’. She said: ‘No all of you. (Liam) must have the most amazing kidneys, his counts have dropped by six whole points and he can go home’. I told them straight out: ‘We prayed for this’.”

Dee recalls another occasion when it was looking like he would have to be tube fed.

“We stood in church and 400 people pleaded with God for Liam’s appetite and he gained 800 grams in a day...That was another real witness.”

Dee says that while she found herself initially asking God for things, she had recently had a “real change of perspective in that I should be thanking him now in that I’ve got that peace”.

“Thanking Him for the peace, thanking Him for the grace that He gives me so that I can treat each person with respect.... Thanking Him that I can go to work on a nice sunny day because Liam’s able to go to school.

“Thanking him because everything that’s been thrown at us has been fairly easy to accept. And He’s given me the strength...God gives me my strength because I just wouldn’t have had it otherwise. I guess it’s a case of when I start getting scared and fearful, sometimes I just have to look out the window. Like, there’s a boat sitting in our driveway that was given to Liam by the Make a Wish (Foundation). And even though Liam only got to be in it for three hours on a Sunday, that’s so cool. And four months into cancer treatment, I still have a son where I know others up at that hospital who don’t. That’s amazing for me.”

Dee firmly believes that God has great things in store for Liam.

“This is the beginning of a work, not an end,” she says.