Brave Ryley

By Bridget Brady
Young Ryley Jakstas endured a nine-hour surgery last month for a tumour on his brain after he complained of headaches.
His mum, Brooke Skilton, took Ryley for an eye test and was referred to a specialist before the discovery was made on 18 February. Two days later, Ryley had surgery to remove the craniopharyngioma.
Ms Skilton said to discover one of her three sons had a tumour was a parent’s worst nightmare.
“It’s such a shock. You worry about when you kids break their first bone, not when they are going to get their first tumour,” Ms Skilton said.
She said Ryley, who has a twin brother, Luke, had put up with the tests and surgeries remarkably well.
“He just puts up with everything that is thrown at him.”
Ryley had even taken to wiping the dissolvable stitches on his head by himself, Ms Skilton said.
“He has been telling people ‘they took the bubble out of my head to get rid of my headaches’.”
Doctors told Ms Skilton and her husband, Chris, that they removed about 85 per cent of the tumour, but the type of tumour Ryley had has a tendency to grow back.
“We’re not sure how long he had it for. It’s just one of those things, I guess you just have to wait and see.”
Doctors will monitor Ryley every few months.
Ms Skilton said Ryley’s twin brother Luke had been reluctant to go anywhere since they had arrived home from hospital. She has another son Finn, 5, and is pregnant with her fourth child.
“The three are very close.”
Ms Skilton encouraged people to donate to the upcoming Good Friday Appeal as the staff members at the Royal Children’s Hospital were “amazing”.
Last year, the Good Friday Appeal raised a record- breaking $13,862,734 from the Victorian community.