New hospital to bring researchers closer to the sick kids they help

When Jack O’Neill was eight he spent 40 minutes a day strapped to a table, his head bolted in place. But he still managed to keep things light throughout his brain tumour treatment.

“He made this ridiculous radiation playlist of the most hilarious songs,” his mum, Tanya O’Neill, said, recalling It’s Raining Tacos, Chicken Nuggets and My Bum Is Itchy playing over the radiation room speakers.

Jack was treated through the Children’s Cancer Institute and Kids Cancer Centre’s Zero Childhood Cancer program. The program focuses on precision medicine, tailoring a patient’s diagnosis and treatment to their genetic make-up.

Jack’s clinicians collaborated with researchers to discover he had a highly aggressive cancer subtype and got him the treatment he needed.

The program will now be available to even more children as Australia’s first purpose-built, fully integrated children’s cancer centre opens in Randwick on Wednesday, including state-of-the-art laboratories and education and training facilities.

Researchers at the Minderoo Children’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre (MCCCC) will work directly across the hall from the children whose cancers they are investigating.

“That changes the kind of thinking that happens there,” Children’s Cancer Institute executive director and MCCCC co-director Professor Louis Chesler said of the centre, one of few globally offering such a service.

“It creates a culture of scientists, clinicians and patients being around each other all the time.”

Advanced research will include immunotherapies, cancer vaccines and liquid biopsies, which test for cancer in the blood and can detect new or relapsed cancer early, preventing it from developing.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler will officially open the multimillion-dollar facility – a years-long collaboration between NSW and federal governments, the Children’s Cancer Institute, the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation, UNSW and philanthropists including Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation – on Wednesday.

“Cancer, particularly childhood cancer, is an insidious thief,” Forrest said. “Our goal has always been to stop that thief in its tracks and make childhood cancer non-fatal.”

Jack and many other children with cancer must manage the lifelong side effects of chemotherapy, radiation and other treatments initially developed for adults.

But Chesler expected the centre would draw worldwide attention, potentially leading to pharmaceutical giants choosing to produce new drugs in Australia.

“It’ll be less and less common for [children] to travel overseas to get an advanced drug,” he said. “Australian kids will get that care here.”

For Jack’s family, the new inpatient units, private bedrooms with en suites, carer beds and play areas are life-changing after months living in hospitals with little privacy.

O’Neill recalled how difficult it was for Jack to sleep in the shared ward, hearing the screams, cries and vomiting of other seriously ill children.

“It’s the most undignified experience, to do that in a shared space.”

Now 11, Jack is back at school and doing well. He spent a few nights in the new facility in March after suddenly feeling ill.

“Even just emotionally for parents, honestly, I cannot stress enough how incredible the new facility is in comparison,” his mother said.

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