Cooper, 24, lives in Sydney and was diagnosed Leukaemia when he was three and a half years old.

“I don’t remember much. I was quite young. My parents had local businesses in town and we were just a happy, normal family, living on the beach.”

Cooper was attending daycare when they called his mum to let her know he didn’t seem like his usual loud and cheerful self and seemed quite lethargic.

“After a series of tests, I was diagnosed and then undiagnosed because cancer, especially Leukaemia has the cell makeup where it can actually hide from blood tests. After I was re-diagnosed, I was graded directly into a high risk. It was quite advanced Leukaemia and it was straight into extreme cancer treatment.”

Originally from Foster, Newcastle was the closest major hospital. There were a lot of trips to and from Newcastle for chemotherapy, but Cooper needed a bone marrow transplant, which couldn’t be done out of Newcastle, so he was moved on to Sydney Children’s Hospital, which was four hours away. 

“My dad and my sister were going between Foster and Sydney, because my dad was running the family business, while my mom stayed in the hospital with me. We ended up living at Ron McDonald House for a year because I needed to be in isolation due to the advancement of needing to have the bone marrow transplant, which then turned into the stem cell transplant. We ended up living in Sydney for a year.”

The stem cell transplant was touch and go. Cooper’s body was going into rejection mode, wanting to fight it. He had a disease called Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) and ended up being admitted into the intensive care unit and put into an induced coma.

I decided to be defiant and challenge her point of view, which I think she still appreciates to this day. My levels started gradually going back to normal, which was unheard of at the time and although abnormal, it got to the point where they started reducing the life support and started bringing me out of the coma.”

Cooper was in and out of hospital in Newcastle for a year having chemotherapy and then spent a two-and-a-half-year period in hospital in Sydney. 

After potential bone marrow donors getting sick, the decision was made to try the experimental path of stem cell transplant. Cooper had stem cells from the umbilical cord of a baby girl.

Cooper still goes through the long-term effects of childhood Leukaemia to this day.

“I’ve had multiple surgeries post Leukaemia. In 2022, I had half of my liver removed because I had a tumour found that had the potential to turn into a cancerous tumour. I’m still on medication. 

“I got better and then my dad passed away when I was nine, then I was re-diagnosed at the age of 11. I have only gotten it under control around age 19, and I’m only 24.

Schooling wasn’t great. I suffered with depression and suicidal ideations. I was extremely uncomfortable and didn’t like school.  I was quite lonely, and I was bullied for having Leukaemia, bullied for losing my dad at age nine… it was hard. I didn’t excel to the point of that I would’ve liked to.”

Cooper feels the long-term effects of childhood cancer are not talked about.

“I’ve recently had two surgeries on my thyroid. I still see a specialist every two months and I can’t have kids. It’s something that my mom also struggles with because she’s had people say to her, “Cooper’s out of his battle now,” and that’s not how it is because I will see a doctor once a year for the rest of my life. I’m still a patient at Sydney Children’s at 24.”

Cooper talks about the ongoing financial stress.

“An example I will use is, I need to see a dermatologist and it will cost me, $600 out of pocket for that one appointment. People don’t understand the financial stress in the adolescent, young adult world. I am grateful, my mum can afford it, but there are kids and young adults that are not as fortunate as me.” 

Today, Cooper lives in Sydney and is happy working as an international flight attendant.

“I currently work for Qantas and it’s a great organisation to work for. They know my story and I’ve worked a lot with the internal well-being team at Qantas, talking openly about mental health as well because they’re big on making sure that people are healthy in all aspects of their health, mentally and physically.

I strive to be the best person I can be, given the fact that I almost didn’t make it. My mum and sister have always been my cheerleaders. Mum has always uplifted me to be the best person I can be every day, so I do everything I can do to make her proud of me.”