A Caroline Springs 11-year-old has overcome a devastating health diagnosis and is back doing what he loves most; playing cricket.
Houston Larcart reported pain in his leg after a game in early 2017, and after getting a blood test to check for glandular fever his family was shocked to learn he had acute myeloid leukemia.
What followed was five and a half months in the Royal Children’s Hospital receiving chemotherapy. All through it, Houston’s goal was simply to get back to playing cricket.
Houston was so unwell from the treatments he would throw up 12 times a day on average and had to be fed through a tube. He underwent bone marrow biopsies and had chemotherapy injected into his spine.
In August last year, Houston completed his final round of chemotherapy.
“When we came out of hospital, cricket season was just beginning and because his cricket club didn’t know when he would be back, they had saved his spot in the team,” Mr Larcart said. “Cricket gave the family purpose and something to focus on, as our end goal was to get Houston back on the playing field.
“Although his first game back was hard because we could see he was in pain, it didn’t stop him from giving it his all and to us, that felt like we had reached the finish line.
“He was disappointed in his first game back as he thought he would play better, but we all sat around and had a cry together saying the most important thing is that you’re playing cricket and are out of hospital, it really put it into perspective.”
Caroline Springs Cricket Club raised money for the family while Houston was in hospital, and held a presentation day at the hospital to present him with his trophies from last season.
