Young Brody Gobeil from St Pierre is now able to start living life as a normal kid again as he continues to battle cancer.

Seven-year-old Brody Gobeil was diagnosed with Ependymoma in the fourth ventricle of the brain (brain tumour) on February 15, 2017, and underwent a 14-hour surgery just two days after the diagnosis. His father Rick Gobeil says surgeons only removed 80% of the tumour because of the high risk of permanent damage. 

Gobeil notes, unfortunately, it took a while to figure out that the symptoms were indeed more serious than allergies or anxiety from starting school.

"We had concerns about the way he was acting, his balance and everything was off. He had occasional vomiting for no reason so we were thinking maybe it was allergies. We kept a log of what he ate and just couldn’t really pinpoint it. So eventually we switched doctors and we found another family doctor. We had just a regular appointment and from there we got sent straight to Cancer Care on the emergency side."

Gobeil says his son is a tough kid but they had to go through a lot of rehab following the surgery to relearn everything from walking to even swallowing his own saliva. But now, after many rounds of chemotherapy, radiation, blood transfusions and countless tests, Brody's latest MRI results indicate that he is now stable. Gobeil notes it’s been a tough year but now Brody’s able to get back to being a normal kid again.

"We’re back skating. This summer even with all the treatments and everything else his balance was coming back, we were back bike riding and all that stuff. We’re back skating now, he’s just looking forward to getting back to normal. He loves school and every time we have to go for an appointment he always gets a bit disappointed that he’s missing school so that’s a lot for a kid."

There have been a lot of ups and down throughout Brody's journey but Gobeil adds their community has been supporting them all the way.

"The whole community has been fantastic. The outpour of prayers, thoughts and generosity of people is just overwhelming. I mean there’s no way you could ever possibly really truly express the thank-yous we have for all this but yeah the people have been amazing."

Brody was also one of four children chosen to represent the Cancer Care Foundation at the Winnipeg Jets Hockey Fights Cancer Night at last Monday’s game versus the Minnesota Wild. Gobeil says taking part in the ceremonial puck drop with his son was an experience he’ll never forget.