Turner family faces unimaginable heartbreak as cancer strikes Maddie, 13, and her father, Mick, in same week

In a series of events that seem too cruel to be true, a Perth family has been dealt not one, but two devastating cancer diagnoses in the span of just five days. For 13-year-old Maddie Turner, the nightmare began on November 3 when she was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer. After months of enduring severe pain in her foot, Maddie’s world was upended when doctors confirmed the unthinkable. Five days later, her father Mick - already juggling the stress of his daughter’s battle - received news that shattered the Turner family even further. A routine colonoscopy, which he had scheduled as a precaution, revealed a tumour in Mick’s bowel. Just days after his daughter’s diagnosis, Mick was told that 20 centimetres of his colon would have to be removed, followed by emergency surgery and complications that landed him in hospital for more than a week. “I was shocked,” Mick said. “I never expected this, especially with everything going on with Maddie. “I was scared to tell my wife, to be honest, because I knew with what had been happening with Maddie, she was still really emotionally fragile from it.” For Maddie’s mother, Cait, the news was beyond devastating. “I just thought I’d be running in to grab him but I walked in and he looked quite emotional,” Cait said. “I just automatically thought, ‘oh my god, the doctors have called him about Maddie’. “He said, ‘It’s not Maddie, it’s me’. And I just collapsed onto the bed.” Maddie’s own battle began in October, when she first noticed unusual swelling and discoloration in her foot. Doctors initially suspected a bacterial infection, but after further tests, the news proved far worse. Maddie’s life would never be the same again. “They called us while she was still on the table and said, ‘we’ve opened it up and I pretty much put money on it just being an infection, she’s going to be fine’,” Cait said. “We came home, we thought it was all over. We’d all gone back to work and back to school, and the doctor called me and she said, It’s not an infection, it’s a sarcoma. “She started talking about cancer and chemotherapy and radiation and surgery, and it was like the whole world was just spinning. “When you first get told your kid’s got cancer, it’s horrible, it’s terrifying.” Maddie, who has undergone multiple surgeries, never thought her sore foot would turn out to be a case of the dreaded c-word. “When I heard that it was an infection, I believed them, it made sense that it would just be an infection,” Maddie said. “When they told me it was cancer, it was a lot to take in. I didn’t think that it would get that bad. “I wasn’t really sad, I was more just shocked and a bit scared and confused.” As her daughter began chemotherapy and radiation, Cait was forced to leave her job to care for Maddie full-time. Mick, too, is unable to work while undergoing his own treatment. Financial strain has added another layer of pressure on the family, which also includes two younger children, Will and Leo. Despite the unimaginable circumstances, Maddie remains resilient. “She’s been unbelievably strong through it all,” Cait said. “She’s taking it so well, like she’s really determined to just get it done, get it sorted, and get back to normal.” While chemotherapy has made her feel sick and scared, she refuses to let cancer steal her hope. Mick described what has happened to his family as “the opposite of winning the lottery twice, in terms of the odds of it happening”. The situation weighs heavily on the entire family, yet they remain united in the face of adversity. On January 2, Mick will begin his own course of chemotherapy, a gruelling three-month treatment that will only add to the family’s burden. For Maddie, the news of her father’s diagnosis brought mixed emotions. “I kind of freaked out a little bit when I found out that he had cancer,” Maddie said. “I was obviously upset and stuff. But when I found out he had to have chemo, I thought, ‘We can get through it together, that’ll be nice’.” Cait’s sister, Rachel Ross, started a GoFundMe page in a bid to keep the Turner family afloat, as Maddie and Mick focus on their uphill battles.