Community & Business
2 February, 2026
Local boy diagnosed with rare, aggressive cancer
Thirteen-years-old Oakey-raised Ethan Moore is currently undergoing eight weeks of radiation treatment at the Queensland's Children Hospital in Brisbane after being diagnosed with a rare form of malignant cancer. To support his family financially, head to https://gofund.me/be5404563
Ethan was born with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1), a genetic condition that causes benign tumours to grow along nerves throughout the body.
While this condition has always been part of his life, his family never imagined it would lead to what they are now facing.
After first noticing pain, it took 41 days until Ethan was diagnosed with a malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumour (MPNST) — a rare and aggressive cancer associated with NF1.
His tumour is large and complex, located close to vital structures in his neck and chest.
Ethan’s mum, Kirsty Krause is an enrolled nurse with eight years of experience and is currently completing her Bachelor degree, with one remaining compulsory unpaid university placement still to complete.
She has already used all of her annual leave completing clinical hours.
Ethan has already gone through major surgery, and is currently undergoing radiation treatment.
Kirsty sent us this update from Brisbane in the Queensland Children’s Hospital.
“Handing your baby over to a surgical team, knowing you can’t protect him from what’s about to happen, is a pain that sits in places words don’t usually reach.
You smile for him.
You tell him he’s brave.
But inside, your whole world is shaking.
Seeing Ethan after such a big operation changed something in me.
The tubes. The scars.
The exhaustion in his little body. The way his eyes looked.
No parent should ever have to see their child like that and not be able to take it away.
Now, being told he has to go through radiation as well… it feels like the ground keeps dropping away just when you think you’ve found your feet again.
Just when he’s already been through so much.
Just when he’s still trying to process what has already happened to him.
What hurts almost as much as the physical side is seeing how emotional he is.
Seeing that he’s not himself. Seeing the fear, how overwhelmed he is, and the sadness that come out in ways that aren’t him.
He’s only 13. He should be worried about school, friends, games, what he’s doing on the weekend not cancer, hospitals, surgeries, or radiation.
As his mum, you want to be the one who fixes it, who makes it better and who carries it so he doesn’t have to.
But instead, all you can do is sit beside him, hold his hand, and love him through something that is completely unfair.
Watching your child suffer changes you.
It breaks you in quiet ways. It makes you strong in ways you never asked to be.
And it fills your heart with a kind of love that hurts because you would take every single part of this from him if you could.
But you can’t. So you stay.
You don’t leave their side.
You become their safe place in the middle of the scariest time of their life.
And you love them harder than you ever knew was possible.”
Ethan’s family has started a GoFundMe to help cover accommodation, lost income, and basic living costs, and to give him small moments of normality when he can manage them - “because he’s still a kid, even though cancer is trying to take that away.”
Funds raised will help support:
- Time away from work so Kirsty can be present for Ethan throughout treatment
- Accommodation and travel costs
- Food and daily living expenses
- Small outings to support Ethan’s mental and emotional wellbeing
Ethan’s GoFundMe is:
