Two girls, ages seven and five, face an uncertain future after their mother and father were diagnosed with stage four cancer.
Gold Coast couple Claire and Aaron Groot, who have been married for 10 years, are fighting not only for their lives but also to support their daughters.
Children are too young to understand what their parents are going through or what it all means, and their parents try not to worry them.
Ms Groot was first diagnosed with triple-positive breast cancer in 2019 and has been fighting a tireless battle ever since.
He has had several surgeries, radiation, chemotherapy and various other therapies to try to combat the disease.
Despite all the treatments and her fighting spirit, she is now in stage four cancer and her battle continues.
If that wasn’t difficult enough for the Mermaid Waters family, just before Groot’s 40th birthday, he received his own devastating diagnosis of malignant melanoma.
She has also had several surgeries and immunotherapy treatments, but the cancer has spread to her lymph nodes and neck and is now also in stage four.
Claire and Aaron Groot, a Gold Coast couple who have been married for 10 years, are fighting not only for their lives, but also to support their daughters. The family is pictured
Claire Groot was first diagnosed with triple-positive breast cancer in 2019 and has been on a relentless battle ever since.
To help the family at this tragic time, Ms. Groot’s sister, Julia Rabina, has created a GoFundMe page, with the goal of raising $250,000, and is already more than halfway there.
“Our fundraising goal may seem ambitious, but with two parents fighting for their lives, this young family is in urgent need of support,” Rabina wrote.
‘The funds raised will ease the financial burden of treatment costs, medical appointments, childcare and travel expenses, ensuring Claire and Aaron can focus on their recovery without the added stress of financial strain.’
The Groots were fit, active and healthy (Aaron was an avid cyclist), so their diagnoses came as a surprise.
But there is a history of skin cancer in Mr Groot’s family and he saw a doctor three times for a growth on his face, which kept cutting into him when he shaved.
The doctor only removed it in July 2023 when Mr Groot insisted, Ms Groot said.
“Two days later they called me to tell me that the routine biopsy had shown it was an aggressive cancer and to come back immediately,” she said. Costa Dorada Newsletter.
Mr Groot underwent invasive surgery in Sydney, where muscle was taken from his leg for use in his neck, where a tumour was removed.
Doctors were confident they had removed all the cancer, but Groot also received radiation therapy to “clean out” any cells that remained.
But three weeks ago, a year after beginning his battle with his health, Aaron received the terrible news that the disease had returned and spread to his liver and bones: stage four cancer.
He has started a new immunotherapy treatment and the next scan is scheduled for mid-August. His wife says they are “terrified.”
The couple said they are determined to explore every avenue to be there for their daughters.
If immunotherapy has not worked, he has no options left in Australia and will need to receive treatment abroad, probably in the United States.
Mrs Groot said: “We will not let cancer defeat us” but trying to stay alive has led to huge medical bills so her sister organised the fundraiser.
“We’ve always been the family that gives to charity, we never thought we would be the charity,” she said.
“I can’t imagine a future where we’re not there for our daughters, so we have to use every means at our disposal to keep fighting.”
