AVAST ye landlubbers!

Foodworks shoppers may have found themselves at the mercy of a band of treasure-seeking pirates last week – but rest assured, it was for a good cause.

Held every year since 2015 in support of The Kids’ Cancer Project, Casterton Foodworks staff joined the annual Pirate Day fundraising festivities this year, donning some smashing costumes to raise awareness and funds for children’s brain cancer research.

The team raised around $260 to support the nationwide efforts and local organiser, staff member Julie Robins said she was thankful to all who donated.

“We’re pretty happy with (the amount raised),” she said.

“(It is a) bit of fun, a bit of fundraising for the kids.

“I think everyone’s done a brilliant job (with the costumes).”

Pirate Day this year was held on 13 May, but schools and community groups dressed up throughout May for Brain Cancer Awareness Month.

The event has raised more than $475,000 since 2015 to support scientific research investigating better treatments for childhood brain cancer.

Brain cancer is one of the most common childhood cancers according to the Children’s Cancer Institute, with around 120 cases diagnosed in Australian children and adolescents each year.

The organisation also said it caused more deaths in children than any other type of cancer.

Children under five years old have the worst survival rate, at around 55 per cent.

Henty seven-year-old, Max Beaton, is one of the success stories – he was diagnosed with a 45-millimetre pilocytic astrocytoma brain tumour in October, 2019 and subsequently underwent successful chemotherapy at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.

Max’s mum, Brandie said a visit to the local GP after he complained of headaches quickly became a trip to doctors in Geelong and Melbourne.

“(The local GP) noticed that one of his eyes was shuttering back and forth and it wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do,” Mrs Beaton said.

“He got taken (to the ophthalmologist) the next day and they basically took one look at him and said, ‘We don’t think it’s anything to do with his eye, we think it’s neurological’.”

An MRI in Geelong confirmed the large tumour before a biopsy undertaken at the Royal Children’s Hospital found it to be cancerous.

Mrs Beaton said that in a strange twist, a diagnosis of cancer was the best outcome, in Max’s case.

“Because of where it’s positioned in his brain, it’s impossible to operate on,” she said.

“It being cancerous gave us the opportunity to actually treat it, shrink it and take the pressure off.”

Max was subject to chemotherapy and a trial drug for more than 12 months, travelling back and forth between home and Melbourne while still attending school as often as he could.

The visits gradually became less frequent and aside from an anaphylactic reaction to his last round of chemotherapy, the treatment was successful with no serious setbacks.

Mrs Beaton said Max had been “amazing” throughout the process.

“When we were going through the brunt of it, he just accepted what was happening,” she said.

The tumour is now only around 25 millimetres in size and while it has left Max permanently blind in his right eye, Mrs Beaton said the tumour was effectively dead.

“It could be triggered to grow again – it’s not something that can pop up in his body anywhere else, but it is something we have to monitor,” she said.

Max now visits an oncologist every three months for a check-up.

Mrs Beaton expressed her thanks for the support of Angel Flight and Ronald McDonald House Charities – which provided transport and accommodation respectively – as well as the work of the Royal Children’s Hospital.

“We all put faith in the doctors to take care of him and they honestly did,” she said.

She also thanked the local community who rallied to help the family in any way they could.

“We didn’t have to ask anybody for anything – people just came out of everywhere,” she said.

“Even now, I still get asked almost on a daily basis, how Max is.

“It’s really humbling when you feel that, in that situation, you’re in your own little family bubble, when you just don’t realise that it does affect the rest of the community as well – there’s so many people that do care about your family and want to help out.”

Mrs Robins also had praise for the local community, thanking them for their support for the Pirate Day fundraiser.

“The customers are asking us what we are doing so we’re spreading the word,” she said.

“I think we might do it again next year because it’s fun and it’s a worthwhile cause.” For more information about Pirate Day and the Kids’ Cancer Project, visit www.pirateday.com.au.