Kind strangers help a family relocate
The communities of Toowoomba and Roma have come together to help the family of a three-year-old boy with a rare brain ailment.
Myles Rauchle developed a brain abscess which now requires regular treatment and monitoring at the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in Brisbane.
For the Roma-based family that required a three-day trip which proved not only stressful for young Myles, but took his mum Rebecca Rauchle away from her other three children.
“Myles doesn’t travel well so what is normally a four-hour trip from Roma to Toowoomba takes five hours,” his mother said.
“Usually we come to Toowoomba and spend the night at my sister’s place then go to Brisbane in the morning.
“Then we return to Toowoomba and spend the night before heading back out to Roma.
“I’ve clocked eight to 10,000km in the past six months.”
Apart from the stresses of the travel, it was also a financial burden on the family.
So, the Apex Clubs of Roma and Toowoomba banded together to resettle the family in Toowoomba.
The Apex Club of Roma covered the cost of removal vans to transport the family’s furniture and goods to their new home in Toowoomba where the Apex Club of Toowoomba members helped settle them in.
The House Call Doctor group also came on board and will organise Rebecca and Myles’ trips to and from Brisbane from now on, saving the family that added cost.
“Without them (Apex clubs) we wouldn’t have made it down here yet,” Mrs Rauchle said as she moved her family into the new home in Toowoomba.
“Myles and Zanda (4) are here with me but Braiden (7) and Skyla (10) are still in Roma but they will come down here to be with us later in the week.
“Now we will be able to make the trip to Brisbane and back in one day which will be a lot easier on all of us.”
Mrs Rauchle said there was no long-term diagnosis for Myles at the moment but he required MRI scans every three months and a visit to the neurosurgeon every six to eight weeks.
“He had his first surgery on October 2 to drain the abscess and he was started on IV antibiotics.
“Three days later they operated to remove it and he was in hospital for six weeks on IV antibiotics.
“He had a shunt put in to help drain it because his body can’t do it.
“Just looking at him you wouldn’t think there is anything wrong but he struggles with some things like even walking up stairs.”
Original Source: The Chronicle | Peter Hardwick | 24th April 2017
