When Life Shatters: A Mother and Son's Journey Through Osteosarcoma

When thirteen-year-old Levi developed a slight limp while recovering from a broken arm, his mother Chantelle couldn't have imagined the devastating journey ahead. What doctors initially dismissed turned out to be osteosarcoma—an aggressive bone cancer affecting less than 1% of people.

In this emotionally charged conversation, Chantelle shares their family's nine-month battle through grueling chemotherapy cycles and the heart-wrenching decision Levi faced: rebuild his leg with severe lifelong limitations or undergo rotationplasty amputation to preserve his active lifestyle. With remarkable clarity, she describes the protective mental "haze" that descended as her brain processed the unthinkable—her child had cancer.

When Levi joins the conversation, his extraordinary emotional intelligence shines through. "I just tried my best to stay positive," he explains with wisdom beyond his years. "If you become negative, certain stuff will take advantage of that." Despite losing his leg and enduring brutal treatments, Levi found solace creating music during hospital stays—beats and songs that helped keep him "sane" during the darkest periods.

The episode culminates in an emotional surprise when Levi receives professional DJ equipment gifted by industry partners who were moved by his story. Through tears and shocked silence, we witness a moment of pure joy breaking through the medical trauma—a powerful reminder that even in life's darkest chapters, light finds a way to shine through.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
We would like to acknowledge the traditional
custodians of this land.
We pay our respects to theElders past, present and
emerging, for they hold thememories, the traditions and the
culture of the Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander people
across the nation.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
I was reading the initial scan that actually said
and I think this is when it hitme most likely diagnosis
osteosarcoma from the initialscan.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
When mummy was a little girl and mummy left her
dad when it hit me most likelydiagnosis osteosarcoma from the
initial scan Underfoot.
We're trying to do the best wecan, but it's not very good.
Daddy's really sorry, he didn'tmean to shout.

(00:53):
We all get a little touchdown.
We all get a little.
We all get a little.
We all get a little touchdown.

Speaker 4 (00:56):
All right, Today is super, super special.
For the first time, apart fromthe episode that I did with my
wife George, we have our firstin-person episode.
So today we've got Chantelle.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 4 (01:10):
Thank you so much for coming.
So what we do?
You have been listening to thepodcast, so what we do first and
foremost is go through a littlebit about yourself and a little
bit about your family Cool Goahead, wendy.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Oh God, all right, when do I start?
Can you give me a startingpoint?
Who are you?
Okay, I am Sorry, the nerves.
I am an only girl.
I have seven brothers.
I'm the oldest.
I have quite a traumaticbackground myself.
I was a young mum.
I had the age 17.

(01:41):
I work in disability supportand I have ADHD, so I'm quite
strong.

Speaker 4 (01:47):
Yeah, well, you will find your family here.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, so you have one son, I do, levi, I have Levi,
thank goodness I also haveendometriosis, so I have, since
Levi, lost both my tubes toectopic pregnancies, which makes
him even more special than healready was.

Speaker 4 (02:03):
Yeah, yeah, so it's a one and done without choice.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, well, I think I have a partner now and we can
look into IVF.
We'll be able to do that Isthat something that's on the
horizon?

Speaker 4 (02:12):
Yeah, want more.
Yeah, and we, as everyone knows, we have three and I now have
the snip.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
Just because all three of them progressively
tried to kill George even more.
Oh no, which is ridiculous.

Speaker 4 (02:24):
I'm so nervous.
We wanted four, but after Salemboth of us were like no, I
can't do it anymore.
She lost too much blood.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
That's horrible.
I hear all of these stories andI feel so bad because for years
I say to everyone you'll befine, it's the best thing that
ever happened to me.
I loved my labour and I thinkI'm the only person that, so I
thought at least put people intoshock.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
Yeah, yeah, you're one of them.
No, george is pregnant, that'swhat.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
That's so horrible.
So not one of them was calmnice.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
No, no, none of them were good.
Hendrix was a induction becauseGeorge had what's it called
Gest, no, not gestationaldiabetes.
The other one, that Was shereally sick.
She had really bad fluidretention in her feet.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, I can't think of the word now either.
Oh, that's going to kill me.

Speaker 4 (03:07):
Yeah, it's going to annoy me too.
Oh well, that one, let's get it.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
We'll go back.

Speaker 4 (03:10):
Yeah, so that was that.
And then Hendrix was a shoulderdystocia, so she got stuck,
born unresponsive, had to havesome work done on her and then
George hemorrhaged.

Speaker 5 (03:23):
Oh, wow.

Speaker 4 (03:24):
Second birth was Roman, yeah, and he was rushed
to NICU at 15 hours old toundergo life-saving surgery
because he had a twisted bowel.
So he spent his first two weeksin NICU during COVID, so George
and I were unable to spend timewith him together for the first
two weeks.
It was a hard one.
And then third one Salem was anemergency C-section.

(03:47):
Sorry, rome was a C-section aswell.
Yeah, salem was an emergencyC-section under general.
Wow.
They gave her like eight, nine,ten, I don't know how many
epidurals, and none of themworked.
Wow yeah they kept giving hermore and giving her more and
they were like doing the ice bagtest, yeah, and her more and
giving her more.
And they were like doing theice bag test and she's like,
yeah, I can feel that.
They're like no, you can't.
And then the doctors would holdtheir hands above her legs,

(04:08):
they like kick, and she was justlike like no issues at all.
We had an entire team ofanesthesiologists in the or
looking at each other being likewhat's going?

Speaker 2 (04:18):
on.

Speaker 4 (04:18):
This is not a human georgia yeah, so they had to put
her to sleep.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Emergency caesar and very close to die massive oh my
goodness three liters orsomething like that oh, wow,
yeah, okay, I might rethink myafter that after that, yeah,
didn't want to do any more withthat you're right.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
So I want to talk a little bit about you and growing
up, yeah and uh how you came tobe the 17-year-old mum.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
All right, I when I was young.
My mum remarried when I wasvery young one or two, can't
quite remember and the man thatshe married became my father.
I didn't have much to do withmy biological father and he's
the father of majority of mybrothers.
So up until 15, it was great.

(05:08):
I loved.
I was a daddy's girl, loved mydad, and then my parents
divorced.
So my parents Gary, my fatherthat took me on and things kind
of spiraled from there.
My mum remarried someone thatshouldn't have been around kids
or girls, and I was the onlygirl in the house.
My teen years and a lot of mychildhood really revolved around

(05:31):
raising my brothers and beingthe maternal one in the
household.
And my heart's racing, it's allright, you take your time.
And it's probably the first timeI've said this out loud, but
I'm going to do it because it'smy story.
My mum wasn't maternal andwasn't very supportive in those
situations, yeah, and then wemoved away to oh sorry.
I started dating Levi's fatherquite young and then my mum

(05:52):
decided that we were moving awayfrom the eastern suburbs to the
country where we would thenreside on 120 acres of land.
I'd stayed with Levi's fatherand he would come up every
weekend and I fell pregnant andit was the best thing that ever
happened to me.
I, prior to that, my brothers,were my world they still are my
world, obviously but I hadnothing, no reason to leave and

(06:13):
keep myself safe or leave for myown sanity until I was pregnant
and decided there was no waythat my child was going to be
around.
It's honestly.
I feel like the universe had myback.
It's the best thing that everhappened to me.

Speaker 4 (06:24):
So you moved out at 17 with a newborn baby.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
So I moved out at 17 to Jovan's family my father's
family household at pregnantstill, and we had Levi down here
and then I was very close withhis family.
I learned a lot, a lot throughthem and we lived there for four
years and we were saving myhome, do all of that kind of
them.
And we lived there for fouryears and we were saving my home

(06:47):
, do all of that kind of stuff.
And then we separated.
We just outgrow each other.
We still respect each other.
We're still great friends andthere's not.
I couldn't have chosen a betterperson to have a child with and
to co-parent with.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (06:56):
I love hearing that.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah, and I think also because I was raised I was
around quite toxic divorces andseparations and relationships.
I just always knew it's notwhat I wanted to do.
I didn't want to waste my lifedoing that and making someone
else's life hell or not having achance to move on myself.

Speaker 4 (07:15):
Yeah, yeah, definitely yeah, it's a lot.
It's a lot of emotionalmaturity for a 17 year old.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Well, it's funny, I always I feel like I say Levi's
been here before and I don'twant to put tickets on myself,
but I feel like I always feltlike everyone thought the way I
did until I realized they didn't.
And I definitely have livedmany lives before.
Just the way that it naturally,naturally comes, yeah.

Speaker 4 (07:38):
Yeah, we often talk about George and I talk about if
we've lived lives before.
I'm a freshie.
I reckon you think I'm a littletoo.
What's the word?
Rose-tinted glasses?

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, naive.

Speaker 4 (07:48):
Yeah, naive, that's the one you know.
Yeah, I give people too manychances.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
I feel I mean, there's things in life where I
think I definitely haven't doneit before, and it's when I react
to things or I become reallyemotional and can't regulate
myself.
But then there's times where,you know, I get to a point where
I just feel nothing and I'mlike I've done this many times
before.
I just needed that one littlelast lesson in this.

Speaker 4 (08:13):
Yeah, yeah, that, that um wisdom that's being
passed down through the timesand whatnot.

Speaker 6 (08:18):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (08:19):
I love thinking about that.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, we do too.
We love talking about it, it'scool.

Speaker 4 (08:23):
So you did mention that you have ADHD.
Yes, when were you diagnosed?

Speaker 2 (08:27):
So I was diagnosed during COVID.
One of my brothers wasdiagnosed really young and then
re-diagnosed in his early 20s Ithink, and I was in the
appointment with him.
We were quite close.
We have a love-haterelationship but we are very
close.
He's the naughty boy in thefamily who now is the most calm,
but he asked me to go to apsych appointment with him.

(08:49):
He actually had just done sometime away after being quite
reckless.

Speaker 4 (08:54):
Time away as in prison?
Yes, okay.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
I think it was juvie Juvie yeah.
I'm not quite sure.
I was too emotional, I couldn'tdeal with it.
I didn't know too much, toowell.
Yeah, and I was in thisappointment and for the first
time he opened up about his past.
But he only wanted me and I was.
The butter wouldn't melt in mymouth.
I'd not partied because I hadLevi Young.
I'd not really done anythingnaughty.

(09:16):
I mean now I've lived a littlebit more, but back then it was
people kind of kept things hushhush for me.
I guess they felt like theywere going to be judged, which
was never the case, but Iunderstand.
And so it was reallyheartwarming but also huge for
me to be in this appointmentwhere all these things people
had said my brother had done andI was like no way, no way, he's
not done this, not done drugs,not done anything for him to.

(09:37):
I don't want to say too muchbecause it was private, but
delve really deep intoeverything that he'd done and
say I'm so sorry you need tohear this, but I needed you here
.
And it was huge.
And one of the things he saidand it was something tiny, I
can't even remember I went mygoodness, he's being diagnosed
with ADHD and that was her mainfocal point rather than
everything he'd done, was thisone little detail and I was like

(09:58):
I do that too, okay.
So it sat with me for a year andI thought I don't really want
to know.
I love myself, I love mypersonality.
And then I started to thinkreally deeply about the not so
great traits, like the fact thatI've tried to do my nursing
five times and been staring atbirds out the window and unable
to focus Just all these littlethings.
Maybe a lot of my copingmechanisms were from trauma and

(10:20):
now that I'm so happy in my lifeand I feel so safe, I
definitely wasn't able to maskthem anymore without even
realising I was masking.
So that was would have beenmid-20s when that happened, I
think I got diagnosed.
I think I was 28.
Maybe I'm 31 now.

Speaker 4 (10:36):
So late 20s.
So three years.
Yep, I'm on three years too.
Similar timelines.
I'm a lot older, yep.
I always find it quite funnyhow you know the whole rhetoric
of COVID vaccines give youautism.
Yep, I don't think it was thevaccines, I think it was
lockdown.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 4 (10:52):
I think for the first time in everyone's lives, they
were forced to stay at home.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
To deal with themselves.
And regulate and realise thatthey were just all existing in
severe emotional pain.
Absolutely yeah, that was me.
Because I worked nonstop, I wasalways finding ways to not be
alone.
I hated being alone, and when Ihad to be alone I didn't cope.
And then I wondered had I justwatched too many reels on people
having ADHD?
And then you spiral down thiswhole thing.

Speaker 4 (11:17):
But yeah, it's definitely there.
It's crazy.
Yeah, I think everyone was justlike I don't actually like
being around people that much.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 4 (11:25):
Yeah, very, very good , so medicated now.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah, medicated, and that's been trial and error.

Speaker 4 (11:31):
I mean, have you been on a few?

Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah, and I can't even remember what I've been on.
It's funny, I have really badmemory and, surprisingly, when
I'm perfectly medicated.
That's when it's so strange.
I was saying to my partner itwas scary.
At one point I thought do Ihave early onset Alzheimer's
because of dementia?
It's that bad that he will saysomething about the previous
week and I have no recollection.

(11:53):
But then I realized it's onlywhen I'm on my medication that
I'm obviously just so calm andI'm just getting through life
the way that I should be, thatwhen I'm unmedicated or I don't
take it, that day I feel like Idon't remember anything.

Speaker 4 (12:05):
Yeah, definitely.
I feel like with late diagnosewe have had to develop this
system of survival and I like tothink of it as like a mailman
inside my brain.
It's just fucking like grabbingat every thought and organizing
it the best they can, and thenthe medication slows that down
and for the first time themailman can just take a breather
.
Yeah.
But because of taking abreather he's a bit complacent,

(12:28):
so he starts to forget shit.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
It's funny, it's so nice having one thought at a
time.

Speaker 4 (12:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
But you do have to learn to deal with that.

Speaker 4 (12:37):
Yeah, but if it's something that you want to
retain, for me personally, ifit's something that I want to
retain, it's kind of like youremember Nokia snake.
Yes, it's like snake, but thesnake gets shorter and shorter
and it eventually catches up tothe head and you die.
That's how my brain operates,with like deep thought, with
when I'm creating or whether I'mwriting or anything like that.

(12:59):
Yeah, I only have this finitewindow to get it written down
before, like, the forgetfulnesscatches up to me.
So I could start thinking abouta book that I'm trying to write
and in my head I'll map outlike a couple of sentences and
by the time I get to the thirdsentence, I can retain that
third sentence, but I can'tremember anything of the first

(13:19):
two sentences.
I'm just like what the fuck isthis?
Even about Absolute, absolutewaffles?

Speaker 2 (13:25):
I have so many journals and I look back and I'm
just like what the fuck?
Is this even a bit Absolute,absolute waffle?
I have so many journals and Ilook back and I'm like you're so
smart.

Speaker 4 (13:31):
Who thinks this is a bit yeah, yeah.
So I am still trying to getinto the habit of like recording
everything or writingeverything down.
Yeah, getting it documentedsomehow so I can remember it.

Speaker 5 (13:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (13:41):
And even then, that doesn't work.
I can record a video If I havean idea.
I record a video to remindmyself and then a week later
I'll look at it and be like Idon't know, what you're talking
about at all.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
Well, it's funny because I used to have this sick
addiction to Snapchat and I waslate, late, late bloomer with
Snapchat, like everything.
I hated TikTok when it firstcame out.
Now I'm hooked.
But I got so bad that Irecorded every single waking
moment of my life on Snapchatand I didn't send it to everyone
.
I just recorded and saved andI've never rewatched any of it.
And it wasn't until I realizedthat that was a huge coping

(14:15):
thing for me, because obviouslyI'm only realizing now how bad
my memory is when I'm medicated,but it's obviously always been
there.
So I feel like, deep down, Iwas doing that so that I was
capturing my life for myself.
It's so funny and I actuallylost my original Snapchat
account and it was the worst dayof my life and I wondered why I
was so upset about it.
And now I look back and think Ifeel like I lost a part of me
because I was always there Justtrying to remember those things

(14:36):
and I never wanted to look backon them, but they were there.

Speaker 4 (14:38):
Yeah, yeah, I do the same.
I've got so many fucking somany videos and even, like, with
the kids' lives, I remember,like I remember the kids' lives.
Obviously they're my kids, Ilove them, I adore them.
But if I try and think aboutnot a specific memory or just
kind of like an overarching,like joyful memory, if you were

(15:03):
to sit there and be like whatare your top five memories of
when Hendrix was 12 months old,yeah, no hope.
I'd have to look at my phoneand see what that timeframe was
and like where she was at andall of that.
Yeah, because I always thinkyou know like cop shows and
they're following up on awitness or something or checking
alibis and be like where wereyou on January 28th between 12

(15:23):
and 6?
And they're like I was at thebar and you can check the
cameras.
I'd be fucked.
I would be suspect number onebecause they'd be like where
were you yesterday morning?
I'd be like no comment, I can'tremember.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
Hang on, I think I've got a video of that.

Speaker 4 (15:37):
Yeah, it's crazy.
I hate it.
It's a memory thing.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
It's a horrible feeling.
I'm so glad that someone elseunderstands because I feel like
everyone I talk to about it theyjust can't get their head
around it.

Speaker 4 (15:48):
Enjoying the show.
Make sure you hit, follow orsubscribe so you never miss an
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voice message.
Yeah, it gets to a point evenwhere it creates conflict in my

(16:10):
marriage with George and, likeyou guys have seen, george and I
talk to each other like we loveeach other to death.
But you know, there's thingsthat I forget that she was
relying on me for and it sucks,it sucks.
And then she kind of has to sitin between this like pissed off
at me, versus trying to besupportive and understanding of

(16:31):
the fact that I am just very,very forgetful.
And it's not.
There's no malice intended oranything like that yeah but when
it's like her asking me to gopick up medication that she
needs after work and then megetting home, yeah she, her
being like where's the meds?
And I was like I was justexcited to come home to see you
guys, I forgot?
Yeah, it does.

(16:52):
It makes me feel like a failure.

Speaker 5 (16:54):
It does and I why can't?

Speaker 4 (16:56):
I remember that.
I can remember every singlefreestyle rap battle from 8 Mile
and I haven't watched thatfucking movie in 10 years.
Can't remember to pick up medsfor my wife.

Speaker 2 (17:05):
I know it's horrible Stupid.
I want to voucher a sexy landvoucher At the pub once because
I could recite the entire Eminem.
I can't remember which song itwas, but every single word.
And I was in a rap battle whichI didn't even know.
I knew the song.
But I'm the same when it comesto things like that.
I get myself in these badsituations because I'm also very
argumentative, because I forgetthat I have a bad memory.
So my partner will saysomething and I'm like, no,

(17:27):
that's not how it went.
And I actually kind of rememberhow it went, but it didn't go
that way until 10 minutes later.
I'm like I actually don'tremember.
No, you're probably right.

Speaker 4 (17:35):
Yeah, george and I had a really deep discussion one
night about.
She said that she feels likeI'm manipulative sometimes
because I say things and thenwhen we talk about it after the
fact I'll be like I didn't saythat, yeah, and she's like
that's kind of gaslighting.
I'm like, no, it's just that.
I know, but that does makesense so that's why we, anytime

(17:56):
we have to have a seriousconversation, where words matter
, we text it to each other.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, it's funny, I, we text it to each other.
Yeah, it's funny, I also.
I'm a big texter and you'reobviously the same and my
partner's not, and sometimes Iget a bit upset that he doesn't
respond to things even thoughthey're there.
But I'd never thought of itthat way, that I do it, because
he'll say why are you sendinghuge, huge texts?
Or I go on and on aboutsomething, but it's probably for
myself, because I then go backand search in my messages, and
it's not to be argumentative andit's not to win a point, it's

(18:23):
more because I feel like I'mlosing my mind.

Speaker 4 (18:25):
Well, for me it's definitely.
I want to make sure what I'msaying is the thing that I'm in,
and if it's conflict, or if I'mheightened or if I'm feeling a
bit overwhelmed or anything,verbally, that's never going to
happen Because I feel like I'mbacked into a corner.
Fight flight, yeah, Fightflight freeze fawn All of that

(18:47):
stuff.
I'll end up just either likesaying nasty shit that I don't
mean, or getting completelyjumbled and just kind of going
like non-verbal.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
It's in here, but it's not coming out.
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (18:59):
Yeah, it's too much.
So, yeah, texting works wellfor us.
Yeah, it's too much, so, yeah,texting works well for us.
Yeah, so you're in disabilitysupport work.
You've been doing that, yousaid, for 15 years.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, I think 10 to 15, like in between.
So I've obviously had breakswith things like this and I did
have a breakdown in 2019 due tosomething at work and just a lot
of stuff, really.
I went on to study patienttransport and I've always been
studying nursing in thebackground, but I keep going
back to disability sports.
It's what I know best, yep.

Speaker 6 (19:26):
Love it.

Speaker 4 (19:27):
Love it, love it, love it.
That's good Fulfilling, it isyeah.
Yeah, I considered doingdisability support, but I feel
like there's a few too many oldpeople that would probably be
like get your hands away from me, you big tattooed brute.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yeah, Actually it's funny, In disability I haven't
really.

Speaker 4 (19:45):
So that's aged care.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
No, it's very different yeah.

Speaker 4 (19:49):
Never mind me then.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
I do aged care as well now and it's funny, my best
girlfriend originally came towork with me in disability and
she went and moved on to agedcare and called me over to work
there and was like you'll loveit, it's so different work there
and was like you'll love it,it's so different.
And yeah, I definitely preferdisability.
It's nice.
I only do HK casually and it isnice.
There's definitely it's equallyas rewarding.
But I just find in disabilityI'm huge on person-centered care

(20:18):
, and not even necessarilyone-on-one, just a lot of
person-centered care, and youhave the opportunity to provide
that in that environment.

Speaker 4 (20:22):
Yeah, yeah, I think it's.
It's a, it's a meaningfulconnection with disability.
It's a bit harder in the mentalhealth space because you have
the you know the personalconflicts of of the others that
you have to consider, so thatconnection's a lot harder.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
Yeah, I have thought about mental health and I just
don't think.
I think I'd risk my own mentalhealth being.
I mean, I've worked with mentalhealth participants or
residents, but not solely mentalhealth.
They've also had physicaldisabilities or disabilities.
It's just a differentenvironment.

Speaker 4 (20:55):
Yeah, it is yeah, it's a different ball game.
I've thought about going intoAOD as well.
Yeah, cause that's where someof my lived experience comes
from.
Yep, but yeah, I think maybe.
Yeah, the youth mental healthwork is where I kind of want to
be.
Yeah.
Help the youngsters of the nextgeneration.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
It would be cool.
And there's also roles likeLevi has, I say, a psych, but
he's not.
I don't think he's a psych.
He's in the mental health partof the Royal Children's and he's
wonderful, and he's moving onnow back part of the Royal
Children's and he's wonderfuland he's moving on now back.
I think he said he'd previouslydone it with youth mental
health away from the hospitaland he just he loves it yeah,

(21:32):
and it's not, yeah, it's funny,it's such a wide.

Speaker 4 (21:34):
Is he someone that just like comes and hangs out
and talks?

Speaker 2 (21:37):
yeah.

Speaker 4 (21:37):
I'd say he'd be a peer support worker.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
That's that's what I want to do yeah, I'd say so, I'd
have to check, but I don't wantto say live, what?
Exactly what he is, but he'samazing and he actually we've
had so much support offered tous in Levi's journey with a heap
of different services and yeahvery supportive.
With psych or cancelling andthings like that.

(22:00):
But Levi's father and I haveboth chatted when we've needed
to with Levi's support personthat we're talking about, and
that's enough.
He's just so great.
Sometimes you don't want to,you don't want to do talk
therapy or you don't want tohave to answer certain questions
.
He's just there.
It's really nice.

Speaker 4 (22:15):
Yeah, yeah, it's what I like the most about about the
peer support space and, as Itold you before, I've just
completed the certificationsintentional peer support.
But the foundation of IPS isconnection, mutuality, moving
toward and worldview.
So it's about us meeting asequals.
There's no power dynamic.

(22:35):
You are you, I am me.
Let's connect, let's share ourstories, and I will
intentionally share my livedexperiences in a way that I
believe will help you best.
And yeah, I love that.
I didn't even know about peersupport until I started working
in mental health support andsomeone I worked with had said I

(22:57):
listened to your podcast, doyou realize that?
That's pretty much thefoundation of being a peer
worker?
And I was like no, I don't knowwhat that is.
Tell me about it.
And they're like, yeah, prettymuch what you're doing.
You are one Talking to peopleon the same level and just
sharing.
I'm like, fuck, yeah, I want todo that.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
That's so cool yeah.

Speaker 4 (23:15):
For sure.

Speaker 2 (23:16):
I love that I feel in my job.

Speaker 4 (23:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (23:20):
So I'm sure that everyone's a bit confused as to
why we're talking abouthospitals and things like that.
Yes, so are you happy to talk alittle bit about Levi and what
is currently happening in Levi'slife and your life?

Speaker 6 (23:38):
Hey, maddie, do you want to know what one of my
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That you can use it to postmore photos of your dog.
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On mine, I've got routines,quiet spaces, energy
conservation and visualschedules, because we all know

(23:58):
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That's so cool.
Can I put energy conservationthere?
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You absolutely can.
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(24:20):
I'd really encourage people tocheck it out for themselves.
You can sign up for free usingthe link in this podcast or you
can find us in the App Store orGoogle Play.

Speaker 2 (24:27):
Yes, so back in August.
Sorry, I'll go back to July.
In July Levi had his firstbroken bone.
And Levi's very active.
He rides motorbikes, playsevery sport you can imagine.
He just tries everything andhe's good at everything.
But he's humble, which is great.
He had his first broken bonebroken arm in July and he had it

(24:54):
put back into place.
He had ketamine which was quitea scream.
The video is hilarious.
It's so funny and that wasreally traumatic.
I never thought anything elsecould beat that.
But watching him with his eyeswide open, completely out of it,
having his arm put back intoplace and while he was in a cast
he developed a slight limp inone of his legs.
And due to co-parenting, hisfather and I co-parent and we

(25:18):
used to go day on, day off, twodays on, and then we'd gone to
week on off as Levi got olderbecause that suited him best.
So I'd say the limp was only amonth, month and a half, but
doing week or week off he wouldcome home and it would take two
days for me to realize he had alimp again and vice versa.
So I had about the one and ahalf month mark.

(25:39):
We were out for dinner with mypartner's family who hadn't seen
Levi for a while, and one ofhis uncles actually said, as
Levi walked through we were inlike a food court, like a
restaurant, and he walked out tothe toilets and they'd seen the
limp and said that's really bad, you probably should go see,
get a referral to it.
Actually they were suggestingphysios and all those kinds of
things.
So prior to that we hadn'ttaken it too seriously because

(26:02):
it was no pain, and we thoughthonestly sorry, levi, I love you
that Levi had just become unfit, put on a bit of weight due to
his arm and wasn't living hisusual active lifestyle.
We all had our own theoriesbehind this.
My partner said Levi just ownssuch good shoes but he buys them
the wrong size because he justwants certain shoes.
So he flops around in all theseexpensive shoes that don't fit

(26:23):
him.
That was his theory and, yeah,thought nothing of it.
Anyway, took that advice andthought I better go get a
referral for a physio.
So in August I was working bothjobs that day and Levi's dad
lives in sorry in the area thatLevi's dad is, levi's doctor and
Levi's school.
So we decided we chose to meetup.
Okay, so we go to the doctorsand we explain Levi's situation

(26:51):
and we're thinking we'll justget a referral for a physio or
something basic.
However, the GP diagnosed Levifrom her chair with something
called Oshgood-Schlatter disease, which apparently Definitely
German yeah, they're so great inGerman.
Like no one at Royal Children'shas heard of it.

(27:12):
It's yeah, so it is German thething.
So originally we were walkinginto the GPL and saying to Levi
mate, you need to start walking,you need to get out of this bad
habit thinking it's nothing.
Come on, just pick your feet up, walk normal To.
I want scans right now and avery heated discussion in the

(27:34):
doctor's surgery, because how doyou diagnose someone with
something so random from yourchair?
You haven't even pulled hispants up and had a look.
I pushed for scans.
She was reluctant.
She told us to go home and takeNurofen for a few months.
Nurofen for a few months, for afew, so we can fuck every other
organ up.
So push for scans.
She ended up giving me thereferrals for scans but telling

(27:54):
me I had to wait five days to goget them, because five days was
going to make a difference whenit's been going on for a month
and a half.
Anyway, we got the scans andtwo days later I had a missed
call.
His dad had a missed call.
His family home had a missedcall.
They'd called everyone thatLevi had in his profile to get
us in urgently.
So again, I'm working a splitshift and we think we're going

(28:17):
to maybe find out there's asprain or a strain or something
else for her to tell us shecould barely even speak, that
they'd found a 4.5 centimeterlesion in Levi's leg and right
leg.
Thanks, levi.

Speaker 4 (28:33):
Do you have issues with direction as well?

Speaker 2 (28:36):
Same with.

Speaker 4 (28:36):
George she's driving.
I'll be like take a right.
And she'll be like fuck.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
My partner now just points, he doesn't even talk, he
just points and we still keeptalking.
I'm chatting away and he's like, yeah, it's funny, it's great.
Actually, I've learned a lotdoing that, because I also
things stick with me now, likeeven though your heart's on the
left, it's always right, okay,and then your wedding ring
obviously is on the same side asyour heart.

Speaker 4 (28:57):
Oh okay.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
So there's all these cool little quirks and things
that you learn by doing theseones.
What?

Speaker 4 (29:02):
was I saying.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
I'm sorry.
So obviously, with mybackground in healthcare and
being around a lot of specialistappointments and things like
that, dealing with a lot ofsituations, I pretty quickly
picked up on what that or Ithought that meant.
So I calmly acted cool and toldLevi and his dad that they

(29:27):
could leave the room.
I now needed to ask somethingpersonal about myself, which was
not true.
A woman closed the door.
I just I almost collapsed and Ithink I just said is it what I
think it is?
And she said yeah, I know whatyou do for work.
I, yes.
If yeah, it could be cancer.
Do you want to go get morescans somewhere else, or you can
head straight to the RoyalChildren's.

(29:48):
Obviously, we decided we'regoing straight to the Children's
.
We stopped past Levi'sgrandparents' house where his
dad lives.
They were in the car in frontof me and I called my partner
and just said oh my God, wethink Levi has cancer.
And I'm sure he probablythought that I was hallucinating
or absolutely out of my mind.
Where did that come from?
Levi and Jervin still didn'tknow at this point.

(30:08):
So we got to the house and Istarted.
Levi was outside or doingsomething and I started to tell
his dad and grandparents and asI was telling them I was reading
the initial scan that actuallysaid and I think this is when it
hit me most likely diagnosisosteosarcoma from the initial
scan.

Speaker 4 (30:26):
Yeah, and what was your frame of mind during that,
when it hit you?

Speaker 2 (30:30):
Well, it didn't really hit me in that moment
because I just spent the lastweek Googling Oshgood's letter
and I'm looking at thesepictures and it was identical to
what the doctor had tried todiagnose him with.
However, on the report, it hadbeen looked at by three
different people and you don'tjust say those words if you're
not really sure about it.
And I just started in thatmoment.

(30:51):
It didn't really hit me.
The gravity of what washappening was more.
It started to play things backin my mind, like when he had the
ultrasound done and I we walkedout.
This was a few days before andI said to him she was really
rude, she shouldn't be inhealthcare, because he was
saying, oh, can you see myOshkosh ladder?
And she was like, really rude,no, that's not where Oshkosh
ladder is.

(31:11):
But now I'm realising theycan't tell you what they see.
But this woman would have beenthinking, oh my God, this kid
has cancer.

Speaker 6 (31:18):
This is not knowing what we're about to find out.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
She was probably in shock Like how do you?
So we went straight to theRoyal Children's and I was blown
away by how fast everythingmoved.
I also had this weird guilt,like I felt like I needed to
tell my family, tell everyoneand update everyone, because
people in my family get shittyif they don't know things.
But I didn't even have time toprocess what was going on.
It moved so fast.

(31:41):
We're in emergency.
Oh, we went through emergencyactually and we were sitting in
the little triage children'sthey have multiple triage rooms
and I walked in and I couldbarely breathe and I had the
piece of paper that saidosteosarcoma and I looked nuts.
But I'm saying to her we'rehere for Osh Goodschlatter,
because I didn't want to lie tohim but I didn't want to scare
him before we knew anything.

(32:01):
And I actually later on sawthat nurse months later and she
said I thought you just madethat word up and that was really
cool.
I've never heard that?
No, it's, I'll teach you what itis.
I've done a lot of research.
So I walked out of the room andspoke to the first doctor in
there and said to her somethinglike do you think it is?
And she said well, it's notgood, whatever it is.

(32:22):
And yes, most likely.
And I asked for her help totell, to explain to Levi,
because I didn't want to leavehim in the dark.

Speaker 4 (32:28):
And how do you even begin to tell your son that your
life's never going to be thesame after this one?

Speaker 2 (32:36):
Yeah.
So we went in and we just shesaid, well, we'll tell him the
truth, we don't know, butthere's something that's not
right with your leg.
So we showed she was reallygreat I don't remember her name
and she got the laptop up and wewere showing him and she said,
look, she didn't mention theword cancer, but there's
something really not right withyour leg.
But we're going to figure itout and we'll work on it.

(32:56):
And then from there, I thinkthe next day or the next few
days, he had something like 20different scans.
I saw machines that I couldnever even imagine it's crazy.
Then on could never evenimagine it's crazy.
Then on to a biopsy and then aweek later was when it really
yeah, so they have to with bonecancer.
I don't know a lot aboutbiopsies, but they have to
actually melt down the bone.

(33:17):
So it takes a week.
And then, pretty much exactly aweek later, they called us in
and I actually went into shockfor about two months from the
moment that we went into thatroom.
So I'm starting to process alot now.
But I relied a lot on mypartner who was there.
It was myself, levi's dad andmy partner and Levi in the room
initially and he remembers allof it.

(33:37):
I don't.

Speaker 4 (33:38):
You just haze, Don't.
Yeah.
Yeah, the protective layer yeah, yeah.
I know the exact feeling, butfrom a different perspective.
It was when mum told me she hadcancer.

Speaker 5 (33:48):
Yeah, and.

Speaker 4 (33:48):
I remember that that haze stayed for a long time.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
You can't explain it unless you felt it.

Speaker 4 (33:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
It's crazy.

Speaker 4 (33:55):
Yeah, it's like your brain, just it's not that it
shuts down.
You're still present, butyou're not in the room.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
Well, it's funny.
I'm so sorry to hear about yourmum, that's.
Yeah, I know how you feel.
Yeah, but it's funny and thissounds crazy, but it's for the
first time ever.
It feels like you can feelevery live wire in your brain
and they have literally shutdown to save you from like to
keep you alive.
Yeah, because you just couldn'tcope with that.
Yeah, it's beyond what you canimagine feeling.

(34:22):
Yeah, so you just can't feel.

Speaker 4 (34:23):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
But you don't control .

Speaker 4 (34:25):
It feel Exactly, but you don't control it, it just
it's.
It's for the first time it'scompletely out of your control.
Yeah, it's kind of likestarting windows in safe mode.
We'll give you just enough tobe able to control your body.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
Yes, and that's about it, but thank you, because I
would not have coped.
So then we went, I went homeand we went sorry, we told
everyone and then we went toLevi's dad's house because it
was his week and I wasn't.
I was in shock.
He stayed there the night and Imy brother followed me home
because he was so worried.
I got home and I actuallycollapsed in the door and had a

(34:59):
huge panic attack.
Yeah, From then we went intointense chemotherapy.
Levi had three different typesof drugs for chemotherapy and it
worked in five week cycles.
So week one he would have thereally horrible one, which was
cisplatin, and doxorubicin,which was a heart protectant,
and it made him violently ill,really, really sick.

(35:20):
So it only ran.
I think that one was only 15minutes, but for hours
afterwards.
Actually, another patientexplained it really well it was
like impending doom, where you'dswallowed the whole ocean and
you had to get it up.
So Levi was so sick until he'dvomit nothing up and then with
that came severe muscle cramps.

(35:41):
It was lethargic.
So many symptoms, nausea,extreme nausea.
And then week two and three hewould have methotrexate.
But leading into themethotrexate was intense
hydration and another a kidneyprotectant.
So week three and four were.
Week three was our red zone,really, where I would have no
immunity and we would end upback in hospital with a fever,

(36:04):
with his body fighting itselfdoing all that.
And then week five we ideallywould have been at home, but we
never made it.
Six days at home, thiscontinued for well, until last
thursday.
So how long's that been, godaugust what do we fly?
yeah, 10, nine, nine months ninemonths yeah so yeah numbers are
not no, they're not.
You take every day as it comes,but it's like I have no, no

(36:25):
idea of time um so nine months?

Speaker 4 (36:28):
what so?
Four rounds of chemo, was thatit?

Speaker 2 (36:31):
Nine months, every five, no.
So how many cycles?

Speaker 5 (36:35):
Four, yeah, and then I think like 18 cycles.

Speaker 2 (36:42):
So roughly each month you'd have the cycle.

Speaker 4 (36:45):
Okay, so yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
Yeah, it gets confusing because some doctors
talk about it as cycles, sometalk about it as um I don't know
the wording but, it's stillvery confusing.
Yeah, um, and in between thatwe'd have um.
So each start of each cycle ormedication leave, I had to have
a finger prick that would testhis bloods to see if he was

(37:07):
neutropenic, which is when theyneed platelets or blood
transfusion, things like that,because it obviously kills
everything off.
It kills the bad, but it alsokills all the good.
So he had multiple bags ofblood platelets nasal gastric
tube at one point, which washorrific.
My partner actually was therefor that and his own father had
had one because he'd also hadcancer and was there for that

(37:29):
and his his own father had hadone because he'd also had cancer
.
Um, and I feel so awful that hehad to be the one to help with
that, but I just couldn't.
We had to actually pin levidown, but not not because he was
screaming and didn't want it,but because it's a natural
reaction, like reaction to lashout or to yeah, so, um, that was
really, really horrible.
Um, in saying that, the nursesare all amazing.
The nurses and doctors, it'sbeen words, absolutely no words.

(37:51):
I'm so grateful.
And sorry, the chemo was all.
We weren't trying to kill thecancer, we were trying to stop.
They knew that they were nevergoing to kill it because it's so
rare and aggressive Under 1% ofpeople that have it.
I should also say, actually,when we were diagnosed,
obviously you, you startthinking what did I do wrong?
What was our lifestyle?
What was it?
Even when you know women areborn with all their eggs.

(38:12):
Was it me?
Was it, what is it?
And with osteosarcoma and inlevi's case, only presents
during puberty, in the longbones, long growing bones, when
the cells grow out of control.
So we've done nothing wrongthat could contribute to this
like a cell mutation kind ofthing.

Speaker 4 (38:28):
Yeah, yeah.
Technically an X-Man.

Speaker 6 (38:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
Technically Fuck him.
So they weren't trying to killthe cancer.
They knew we had to do surgery,they were just trying to.
It was going to keep going andit grew very rapidly.
It almost tripled in size, Ithink, by the time we had
surgery in November.
But it was the perfect.
It's the parameters that theywanted.
They knew it was never going tobe the solution.

(38:52):
So whilst all this is happening,we have meetings with Levi's
surgeon around surgery and therewas two options and we
obviously let Levi make thatchoice.
He was the centre of all of hisown care, which was fantastic,
and he learned so much.
There was two options.
One was a megaprosthesis, whichwas a rebuild of the natural
leg, where they would removecertain bones and replace them

(39:16):
with borrowed bones from theother leg or metal.
However, levi would never ridea motorbike again and would
never play the sports that heplayed because he would be at
such high risk of infection withany knock bump.
And the other option was arotationplasty amputation, where
they would amputate above theknee.
They actually removed above hisankle and then cut above the

(39:41):
knee, so they removed this wholeportion of the leg and put the
foot on backwards to work as anew knee, and that's obviously
the option that Levi chose.
So that's why they put the footon backwards to work as a new
knee, and that's obviously theoption that Levi chose.

Speaker 4 (39:49):
Yeah, so that's why they put the, because I was
going to ask.
That's why they put the foot onbackwards, to have the heel act
as a knee.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
Yep.
So Levi will be able to drive acar, ride a motorbike, because
he actually will have sensationand feeling and be able to flex.
Once he gets his official legswhich will obviously change with
each year, but he's in themoment in a therapy leg he will
have learned to completely flickthe end of his leg.

Speaker 4 (40:13):
Awesome.
Yeah, I mean not awesome.
But best case scenario I'm sureLevi would still prefer to have
his leg, but instead of talkingabout Levi, just you and I
let's get him on, because he ishere and he's wanting to share
yes, he's very eagerly there, sowe'll have a quick break.
I'll set up another chair foryou.
All right, so now we have levi.

(40:35):
Thanks so much for coming on,levi thanks for having me I'm
more than welcome, mate, so Iwant to know a little bit about
yourself, the person you are,the things you have learned as a
13 year old, and we'll go fromthere.
We'll talk a little bit moreabout your cancer story and your
amputation, but, yeah, for nowI just want to hear about you,

(40:57):
mate.

Speaker 5 (40:58):
What makes you happy.
Before this, I was a verysporty guy.
I loved every sport you canimagine.
When I was young, I got intothe habit of riding motorbikes,
so I was very, very big on that.
I love cars.

Speaker 4 (41:13):
Yeah, that's really yeah, so just very active.
Yeah, and you also love videogames, love video games.

Speaker 5 (41:21):
What's your favorite?

Speaker 4 (41:22):
I'm gonna have to say probably, probably black ops 6
yeah, nice, I haven't played anyCall of Duties for years.
I feel like Black Ops 2 was thelast one I bought.

Speaker 5 (41:31):
That was probably.
That's probably my secondfavourite.
I love Black Ops 2 because it'sjust like.

Speaker 4 (41:36):
Modern War.
I haven't done it yet LoveSchool.

Speaker 5 (41:39):
I like School, it's not.
It wasn't that that was aproblem War.
When I was, you know, five, wehad this big issue because, like
you know, people were mostlythe girls weren't being so fair
to the boys.
Like we got bullied, we got,you know, like, put down and all

(42:01):
stuff like that and bullied bythe girls yeah, and we couldn't
do anything about it because assoon as like not saying that I'm
a bully, but as soon as we saidsomething back, they would go
tell on us and we would get introuble.

Speaker 4 (42:11):
So it was kind of you know I got bullied all through
school and my first ever properbully was a girl and I still
remember her.
Her name was brooke and shelooked like a female version of
nelson from the simpsons.
So you your mom has talkedabout the diagnosis.
Yep, can you talk me throughwhat your experience was, what

(42:32):
your personal experience andfeelings were when you found out
, and how did that look?

Speaker 5 (42:37):
Wow, okay, right into it.
Right into it.
It wasn't like I cried, I'mgoing to say it and I'm not
embarrassed.
But a week after, or like two,three weeks after, I discovered
that, like, even that, I've gotthe worst of the well, not the
worst of the worst, but I've gota pretty bad like situation

(42:58):
that I'm in, I just tried mybest to stay positive.
I tried my best to just, youknow, keep pushing and no matter
how hard it got, no matter howlike depressing it was for
everybody, how much it crushedtheir souls, I just tried my
best to just push through it andI tried to bring my family

(43:19):
along with it.
So I tried to keep my positiveto help my family through it too
Okay.

Speaker 4 (43:27):
I'm going to try not to cry.

Speaker 5 (43:28):
I saw you getting a little bit, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (43:30):
Because cancer is a very personal thing for me yeah
as you heard just before, my mumwas diagnosed with breast
cancer when I was 12.
Yeah, and she lasted 16 years.
She was in remission threetimes and yeah, that's 16 extra
years because when she was firstdiagnosed they didn't think she
had that long.
But the positive attitude andthe mindset of like giving up is

(43:51):
not an option.
That's what got her throughmate.
That's what gets everyonethrough cancer.

Speaker 5 (43:55):
I've heard I've also discovered if you become
negative, certain stuff willtake advantage of that.
If you don't stay positive,it'll get worse and worse and
worse.
But even though that it's bad,it's kind of going like up and
down, up and down.
Obviously you have to have yoursad days, like you can't just
live forever being happy.

(44:16):
Gotta have, you know, your baddays, your good days, your okay
days, your normal days.
But, yeah, trying to just pushthrough and don't even think
about just live a life like,even though that you're in
hospital like half of the month,it's just more.
Like the cancer is just notgoing to disappear.
You snap your fingers and it'sgone.

(44:38):
So just crying about it is justgoing to make it last even
longer.
But just trying to like, keeplike your personality and not
let it just destroy you is justbetter, better way to go you
have a incredible head on yourshoulders, mate.

Speaker 4 (44:54):
How is the emotional intelligence?
That's crazy.
You've grown up.
You've grown up with your mom,who I already already know has a
good head on her shoulders anda good understanding of emotions
and regulation and all of that.
But to hear that, hear the wayyou speak and the way you
understand your own mind and thefact that you know you just

(45:18):
live a better life when you arebeing positive, is truly magical
.

Speaker 5 (45:25):
Yeah, it definitely helps.

Speaker 4 (45:26):
It's better than just being negative and saying this
is so bad yeah so, throughoutthe entire uh, from when you
were diagnosed to now, whatwould you say the biggest
hurdles and the biggestemotional hits were, and how did
you pull through those?

Speaker 5 (45:46):
Well, definitely the start, the very start when I
found out I had cancer.
That hit like hurt and thenprobably a second time it hit,
probably chemo Like after I like.
All the medication I was takingjust destroyed my person, like

(46:07):
my mental health.

Speaker 4 (46:08):
Your physical health as well.
I don't know what the chemo islike, but I've witnessed my mum
having it.
Obviously it's very just thatit just turns you so frail,
doesn't it?
You can only have the energy toget to the toilet and back to
bed.

Speaker 5 (46:21):
Not even that.
I couldn't even like.
For one week I was justbedridden, like I was just in my
bed, sleeping, vomiting, tryinglike I couldn't even go.
I couldn't even walk to thetoilet.
I like, before I even takethree steps, I would vomit like
I just had to be in bed and Ijust after I got out of it once
I was, but I looked like azombie.
I was just like.

(46:43):
When mum tried to talk to me, Ijust ignored her.
It was like I'd say I messed up.
Like my body is pretty.
It was pretty bad during thatstage.

Speaker 4 (46:55):
Yeah, and so you just found out last week that no
more yeah, so.
So you'd be pretty chuffed withthat Like yeah, yeah, yeah.
Awesome, I'm so glad to hear it.
I want to talk a little bitabout the surgery and how you
felt when those options werepresented to you and why you

(47:16):
decided to go with the choicethat you chose well, as mum also
discussed, if I got the otheroption I wouldn't be able to do
all my daily activities that Iwould be doing before cancer.

Speaker 5 (47:29):
But also like the risk of infection like that just
means I'm going to be inhospital for another like month
just to like solve out my legand then, as soon as I get out
like I would be straight back inagain.

Speaker 4 (47:42):
You could just knock it on the door and go straight
back in, hey.

Speaker 5 (47:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (47:45):
Yeah, so do you feel like it was a pretty
straightforward decision?

Speaker 5 (47:49):
to not choose that.
Well, I kind of jumped betweenthe two Like.
First I was the mega prosthesis, but then, like after they said
it's kind of like, don't, like,you can go for that choice, but
you won't be able to do as muchthings you were doing, I kind
of went into the like, like theother choice, and yeah, that's

(48:13):
what I ended up getting, becauseI'd rather lose a leg than have
a leg that just keeps gettinginfected.

Speaker 4 (48:18):
Yeah, yeah, and then you run the risk of losing it
later down the track.

Speaker 5 (48:22):
That's exactly what I was about to say.

Speaker 4 (48:25):
Yeah, and the.
So after the amputationhappened, the first time that
you were able to fully see, youknow, your new, your new leg, so
to speak, how did you, how didyou feel?
Were you okay?

Speaker 5 (48:37):
Wait.

Speaker 4 (48:38):
So, like the first, first time, the first first time
that it was unveiled and you'vegot a backwards foot as a leg.

Speaker 5 (48:44):
Well, when I first first woke up and I realized I
had a backward leg, I didn'teven care.
I was just so tired that I justwanted to.
You know just, I didn't wantanybody to bother me.
You just wanted to sleep, Ijust wanted to sleep.

Speaker 4 (48:57):
It felt like your leg was still there.

Speaker 5 (48:59):
No, I didn't feel like my leg was there, it just
felt very heavy.
I was just like I couldn't turnover and it hurt all in my hip.
Remember I'd just got stitchesin my leg, so like they didn't
allow me to do.
Honestly, I'm just going to sayit sucked.

Speaker 4 (49:16):
It would have sucked.

Speaker 5 (49:17):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 4 (49:18):
Yeah, 100%.

Speaker 5 (49:19):
But then, like later, later down the track, about two
, three weeks after, like I wasall better and I could, like I
was back to kind of normal, itstarted to feel better.
I still couldn't roll over, Icould roll onto my side, but it
hurt like hell in my hip, like Ijust it's just all the muscles

(49:39):
and when they put this in, theyhad to put a big metal like rod
in my leg with, like, I think,stick six screws in it, so that
I think that was hurting as well, just because they had to like
they didn't just do stitchesthere, they also put stitches
all like in, like the right,left side of my hip.
Wait, yeah, right side of myhip, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (50:04):
Yeah, pardon.

Speaker 2 (50:04):
Sorry and all the, I have two things to say.
Yeah, we actually played a game.
We wanted to play a gameguessing any stitches Levi had.
And we said to the doctor,roughly, can you tell us?
And they said millions, becauseevery artery, every muscle we
never would have guessed it.
And the other thing I wanted tosay was it was really
interesting in recovery.
So Levi's surgery was 15 hoursand we all got a hotel room at

(50:28):
the hospital to support, to bearound each other, and we went
into recovery and Levi's dad andI obviously it hit me at that
point and he was so sick and hewas getting really agitated,
trying to move, and I said toJoven, levi's dad, I can't tell
him he's got no leg.
There's no way he remembersBecause he went into surgery
smiling Love, you See you on theother side, like so positive,

(50:50):
let's just get rid of thisbastard.
Like it was crazy.
So we bickered a little bitbecause I said, well, he just
doesn't want to cry in front ofyou, but we have to tell him
about his leg.
Anyway, we ripped the band.

Speaker 5 (51:07):
Oh, oh.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
Well, he was getting agitated, trying to move, and I
said, well, we have to tell him.
So we worked up this courage tosay I said, honey, do you
remember what's happened to you?
Thinking we're going to have toexplain it.
And he was like, yes, I know myleg's gone, I just really need
to move it.
And so then we went on totrying to explain that he
couldn't move.
But yeah, that was huge,because you're thinking how is

(51:28):
someone so okay with this?
It's crazy.

Speaker 5 (51:30):
Yeah, and then saying that I did play four sports in
total.
What did you play?
Soccer, basketball, footy, andI tried one day, I played rugby
for a little bit, yeah, so Plusmotorbikes and such an active
person, yeah.
And I also did a lot of likewalk, like running at school and

(51:53):
yeah.

Speaker 4 (51:54):
Just typical 13 year old boy stuff.

Speaker 6 (51:55):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (51:56):
Getting all of all of the extra energy out, yes, so
let's talk about now.
Now that you're out of chemo,you heal your legs probably
pretty healed yeah, out of chemo.
You heal your legs probablypretty healed from the surgery.

Speaker 5 (52:10):
Well before, like when we asked my doctor that
comes to see me, am I allowed toswim and that was about a month
ago, two months ago she saidabsolutely not.
Not in rivers, not in like thatkind of like fresh, dirty water
.
You can only swim in the oceanand not like on a non I don't

(52:31):
know if you know this a non-baybeach.
It's like a I don't even knowwhat it is, to be honest, so it
would be like a beach.

Speaker 4 (52:39):
That's not not kind of yeah, just just go straight
to the ocean, kind of thing,yeah, and it can't be a.

Speaker 5 (52:47):
You can't swim in it before after rain because of the
alkali levels.
So literally, I had to swim ona perfect day and plus, plus,
like it's not like rapid, likeit's like waves that are as tall
as me, coming at me.

Speaker 4 (53:04):
Just getting dumped on.

Speaker 5 (53:05):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (53:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (53:08):
Basically, but now I'm allowed it.
Well, actually I went kayak theother the other month or
something.

Speaker 4 (53:15):
You bought a kayak.

Speaker 5 (53:16):
I got a kayak a fishing kayak because I love
fishing, and I went on that onthe first time I don't even know
, like a month ago, yeah, and itwas just the best thing,
because I love fishing and it.

Speaker 4 (53:29):
What's the biggest fish you've ever caught?

Speaker 5 (53:32):
Probably like on a boat or a pier, like all
together all together probably.
We were on a pier and I caughta about to my to my toe to like
my like kind of that kind ofsection, a big banjo shark.

Speaker 4 (53:48):
So yeah, a bit over a meter, we'll go a bit over a
meter.

Speaker 5 (53:51):
yeah, yeah, sick A bit over a metre.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, sick yeah.

Speaker 4 (53:53):
I've never been fishing.
Oh sorry, I've been fishing.
Once, when I was a kid, I wentfishing at the Hume Trout Farm,
but it's not really fishing,just like literally just pay to
win.

Speaker 5 (54:05):
You know, the funny thing is I've never been to a
trout farm, so you've never beenfishing, I've never been to a
trout farm.

Speaker 4 (54:11):
So you've never been fishing, I've never been to a
trout farm.

Speaker 5 (54:13):
You might have to take me fishing one day, Levi.

Speaker 4 (54:14):
I'm taking you fishing.
Let's do it, I'm learning.
Let's do it, I'm down with it.
Yeah, so now that you are in aplace where you've had to give
up a lot of the things that youlove football, and all of the
active stuff, what?

Speaker 5 (54:34):
are you hoping to accomplish?
Accomplish in the future?
Where are your interestsleaning?

Speaker 4 (54:37):
towards now, my interest leaning towards now,
yeah, like what do you want todo?

Speaker 5 (54:39):
well, probably just the same kind of stuff.
Maybe change up the sport alittle bit.
Maybe I can't play footyanymore, soccer, I could
possibly get into soccer, butyeah, just basically keeping it
the same.
Like I'll probably get backinto basketball at once, like
better, and definitely gettingback into motorbike riding,

(54:59):
because I cannot live withoutthat, and probably just keep my
life a little bit just more calmand not as chaotic as it was.
Yeah, not be, not be like crazyat school, like not running
around every day.

Speaker 4 (55:15):
You're just excited to get back to some sort of
normalcy.

Speaker 5 (55:18):
Yeah, I just want to do something, because, other
than hospital and all the otherstuff, it's nothing.
All I do is sit at home andplay my game or watch TV or
sleep.
It's not fun.
No, it wouldn't be, it's notfun.

Speaker 4 (55:31):
No, it wouldn't be.
It's not fun, it wouldn't be atall.

Speaker 5 (55:33):
No, are you a?

Speaker 4 (55:34):
creative type of person.

Speaker 5 (55:35):
I did like, as in a drawing kind of way or Any type
of creation.

Speaker 4 (55:39):
Do you like making music?
Do you like writing poems?

Speaker 5 (55:42):
I like to make like homemade, like, probably like,
for example, I love fishing, sohomemade crab nets, fish traps.
I love singing too.
Love singing.
I'm a pretty good singer.

Speaker 4 (55:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (55:55):
I love playing piano, I love singing.
I love piano keyboard.
I'm learning guitar.

Speaker 4 (56:01):
Yeah, okay, so multifaceted musician, we can
add to the bloody resume.
And should we discussjournaling, because I'm a big
advocate for journaling andwe've got and so we discussed
journaling, because I'm a bigadvocate for journaling and we
go out keeping a Like a digitaldiary.

Speaker 2 (56:14):
Yeah, and I had not realized.
Levi's always danced, sung,done all of that and he that's.
How did you cope?
What were you doing on youriPad.

Speaker 5 (56:21):
I was making music.
I was making music from my iPadand I yeah, that's how it
actually kept me sane what sortof music were you playing making
?
I was singing, making a songwith beats and everything, and
so you're kind of like dj typeof stuff yeah, yeah yeah, so you

(56:42):
like djing yeah, I've gotten adjing.
I really like it.
I just want to, because me anddad have this thing where we
listen to techno, like all that,like that kind of music, and I
just want him to.
I want to make it for myselfbecause you know how there's
limited kind of like technowhere there's just like so many

(57:04):
that you can pick from.
But I want to make my own musicso I can, I can make it my way.
So, like I want to make it thisway, I might not want to make
techno, I want to make somethingelse for like just calm and
mess around.

Speaker 4 (57:17):
I just want to mess around, make music, have fun.
Yeah, yeah, 100% Very creative.
Do you have DJ decks?

Speaker 5 (57:25):
I did, but then we had to, unfortunately get rid of
it because it didn't it was.
We had to return it because itone wasn't working.

Speaker 4 (57:36):
Faulty.

Speaker 5 (57:36):
Faulty yeah.

Speaker 4 (57:37):
I haven't gotten any.
No, well, hopefully you can getsome more soon.
I'd love to hear some music.

Speaker 5 (57:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (57:42):
Yeah, I'll tell you a little story about all of my
podcast gear.
So when I first started out, Istarted the podcast with a tiny
little mixer just a two channelmixer Wow, that's impressive.
A crappy microphone and like USBheadphones.
That's what I started out withand then, about a year into

(58:03):
about 12 months into it, I hadstarted a conversation with a
bloke who works at DJ City.
Oh yeah, yeah, like the onlinemega store, yeah, dj equipment,
yep, audio visual stuff.
I told him about my podcast andhe was so supportive of the
podcast that dj city gifted meall of all of this stuff wow so

(58:23):
the microphone, my headphones,the roadcast is this also with
dj city?
no, that one's my old mic.
I think it's a Shure PG58.

Speaker 5 (58:32):
I have this from my karaoke machine, that's just a
shoddy old microphone.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (58:38):
And yeah, they gifted all of that to me, so how cool
is that.

Speaker 5 (58:42):
That's pretty Like.
Even Matt is just like so.

Speaker 4 (58:46):
So, levi, the reason that I wanted to tell you this
story is because your mum toldme that you enjoy doing DJ stuff
and that you didn't have anyequipment.
I reached out to my guy at DJCity and the headphones that
you're wearing are yours to keep, so you can take them home with
you.

Speaker 5 (59:03):
No way Is there, don't All right, we've got them
no.

Speaker 4 (59:09):
But I also need you to do me a quick favour.

Speaker 5 (59:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (59:13):
And I need you to pull that blanket off.
Mate, you take your time.
You can take your headphonesoff no, holy fuck right.
So, levi, courtesy of dj cityand pioneer, they, after hearing
about your story and what anincredibly brave and awesome kid
you are sorry, I, I shouldn'tsay kid they have gifted you a

(59:33):
brand new DJ setup, mate.
So you've got a Pioneer DJ FLX4 decks.
You've got Fusion Seriesmonitors.
You've got your Behringerheadphones.
I couldn't get you a microphone, I'm sorry, but you've got
everything there, mate, that youneed.
So, mate, that's all yours.
That's all yours.
You get to take that home.

Speaker 5 (59:52):
Thank you, you're all wrong, chloes.

Speaker 4 (59:54):
That's so speechless.

Speaker 6 (59:55):
Wow, I thought you'd scream.

Speaker 4 (59:57):
I thought I'd cry everywhere.
I think, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:00:01):
I think he needs a moment.

Speaker 4 (01:00:13):
So yeah, mate, look, we've been wanting to get you
here, so I could give it to you,man, I'll take a hug.
I love a hug.
If you want a hug I'm soexcited to hear what you can
come up with so for the podcast,because I've just started
releasing season three and mygood friend and guest that I had
last season, his name's Ben, hemade an entirely new theme song
for me.

Speaker 5 (01:00:32):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (01:00:33):
So I want to give you your first project as a DJ to
make an outro song for thepodcast.

Speaker 5 (01:00:40):
I want to scream Definitely so much like it's.
I'm like a volcano.
I just want to like, oh God,Wow.

Speaker 4 (01:00:47):
You reckon you could do that for me.

Speaker 5 (01:00:49):
Yeah.
That would be an absolutehonour mate, I'd do it, I'm all
doing it in a heartbeat.

Speaker 4 (01:00:53):
Sweet.
We'll tee that up later.

Speaker 5 (01:00:55):
Are you okay?
I'm fine, you just happy.
Once we get into the car, Idon't want to scream near
because of the microphone and Idon't want to hurt these
people's ears because I've got apretty loud, pretty loud girly
scream.
I don't want to do it.
But once we get into the car,yeah, thanks.

Speaker 4 (01:01:12):
Thanks so much, DJ City, and thank you so much
Pioneer.
Yeah, look, I just you know youhave been through a million
times more than any 13-year-oldshould have had to go through,
and I know that the entirejourney can beat you down and
change the way in which you viewthe world, and it can be quite

(01:01:33):
a negative and saddeningexperience.
So I really just wanted to showyou that good exists in the
world and I'm rooting for you,mate.

Speaker 5 (01:01:43):
Thanks, I'm going to be.
I'm so honoured to make theintro.

Speaker 4 (01:01:49):
Outro.
Yeah, Wait, outro Outro.
Yeah, I've got the intro.
I'm making the okay You'll makethe the intro uh like yeah wait
, outro.

Speaker 5 (01:01:53):
Yeah, I've got the intro.
I'm making the okay yeah yeah,that's amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:01:59):
You're amazing.
Thank you for having us morethan welcome.

Speaker 4 (01:02:02):
It absolutely is my pleasure and it was.
It was obviously the reason whywe needed to do it in person
but to all people out there, youbetter listen to the outro.

Speaker 5 (01:02:09):
This is going to be a banger If you've never listened
to the outro yeah, you've gotto go spread this podcast.
Yeah, and listen to the outroPlease.
It would be an honour to me.

Speaker 4 (01:02:21):
Yeah, I love a bit of a plug for my own podcast.
I appreciate that so much.
All right, so I reckon we'regoing to wrap it up so you can
like have a little play aroundand whatnot with your new toys.
We can unbox them if you want.
I'm entirely up to you.
Yeah, 100%.
Thank you again, levi andChantel, for joining me today

(01:02:41):
and thank you for sharing yourjourney.
I think it'll help a lot ofpeople out there that need a bit
of positivity and inspiration.
Mate, you are 150% that you arean inspiration, and meeting you
is one of the highlights, ifnot the biggest highlight, of
having this podcast.

Speaker 5 (01:03:02):
And again, just to say again thanks for having me.
It's a pleasure to be on thispodcast.
Thank you so much for the giftsand thank you for the people
for watching this.

Speaker 4 (01:03:13):
You're more than welcome mate.
All right, Leave yous to it.
Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 6 (01:03:18):
Thank you.