Together building a better tomorrow for Timmy!

Timothey’s Story

This is Timothey, a 5 year-old sweet little boy known to his friends and family as Tim, or Timmy or Tim Tam. Tim was born in Singapore where he lives with his parents and his younger sister Paloma.

Tim loves outdoor activities like playing tennis, football, basketball, swimming, cycling, and playing with his friends, his parents and his 3 year-old little sister.

When Tim grows up he wants to be a fighter pilot and dream to become the first Human on Mars.

Sadly and very suddenly, at the end of November 2019, Tim and his family’s lives were about to be turned upside down. A week before his 4th birthday, Tim was diagnosed with a Medulloblastoma with spinal metastasis, a cancerous (malignant) brain tumour that starts in the lower part of the brain, called the cerebellum. The cerebellum is involved in muscle coordination, balance and movement.

Only 3 days after the diagnosis, Timmy went through surgery to remove as much of the tumour as possible. He could not walk for months after the surgery.

Two weeks after the first surgery, Tim was sleeping a lot and was losing consciousness. The CT scan revealed that he had hydrocephalus which required an urgent surgery with the insertion of a permanent Ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt to drain extra cerebrospinal fluid.

Then Tim had a Hickman line insertion and was ready to start his chemotherapy treatment just after Christmas. However, on the day, half-an-hour before the start of the infusion, he had seizures and had to be admitted to the Children Intensive Care Unit (CICU). MRI and CT scan showed a relapse and a progression of the tumour in the brain stem.

He spent 2 very long weeks in the CICU… despite his very poor condition, he received chemotherapy, responded well and miraculously was discharged from CICU and admitted to the Oncology ward.

During very bumpy and tough months, in and out of the hospital, Tim went through 6 cycles of chemotherapy. The 6^th and last one was a high dose chemotherapy cycle followed by a bone marrow transplant where he spent more than a month in the hospital in a BMT room.

After 2 months without chemotherapy, Tim started a maintenance metronomic chemotherapy protocol for 6 months consisting in daily oral chemotherapy intake.

During these 6 months, Tim was getting stronger, he even joined a special school for kids with low immune system. MRI was stable, blood count was coming up. He enjoyed celebrating his 5^th birthday, Christmas and New Year together with his family away from the hospital…Life was coming back to a certain normality.

The maintenance chemotherapy ended mid-January. Unfortunately, only 6 weeks after the end of the treatment, the MRI check done on the 1^st of March 2021 was bad and we were given the devastatingly heart-breaking news that Tim had relapsed.

The doctors recommended to receive irradiation on brain and spine without further delay, the best option being Proton Therapy. Proton Therapy is unfortunately not available in Singapore yet and with the nature of Timothey’s disease, the clock was ticking. There are several options around the world but only few were viable given the emergency of the situation and given the pandemic. For a lot of good reason, India appeared to be the best option and Tim and his family flew to Chennai, India on March 10^th so he can receive proton therapy treatment urgently.

Tim is in India now with his mum, dad and little sister. He will go through an intense 6 week of Proton Therapy treatment. He’ll stay in Chennai until the end of the treatment and until he is physically and mentally ready to fly back to Singapore.

The adventure continues with faith and hope…

The last few months have shown all of us how life can be fragile and unpredictable.

This fund will allow Tim and his family to be financially ready for any eventuality today and tomorrow, offer the best treatments to Tim wherever that might be, spend as much quality time as possible together with a comforting peace of mind, maintain the best quality of life in Singapore and of course send Tim to Mars so he can fulfil his dream.

Tim and his family would like to kindly ask for your help in any way to help them face the unexpected and support Tim in his life journey.

Team’s Tim!