Eleven-year-old Jack Ottens – who has been battling a rare brain condition since he was born – dreams of one day working for NASA.
The Berwick boy has a condition called deep-brain arteriovenous malformation (AVM) which affects blood vessels in his brain and can cause serious bleeding without warning.
Jack has now become one of Australia’s youngest patients ever to have Gamma Knife surgery at Macquarie University Hospital on Tuesday 24 July which included one of Australia’s leading neurosurgery and neurosciences programs,
“While smaller AVMs can be removed surgically, larger ones and those buried deeper in the brain are now best treated by Gamma Knife,” said Dr John Fuller, the Macquarie University Hospital surgeon who performed Jack’s treatment, along with his team.
Jack was born with Complex Deep-Brain AVM, which was only discovered when he was five years old as he underwent an MRI scan after a serious head injury.
He initially had linear accelerator (LINAC) radiosurgery, which obliterated most, but not all, of the mass.
After enduring many health complications as a result of his AVM and treatment, doctors knew the risks were too high to repeat LINAC radiosurgery.
An AVM is an abnormal tangle of blood vessels in the brain or spine, with haemorrhage a major risk. Jack has already experienced two such haemorrhages.
After Jack’s AVM diagnosis, his mother, Christine Ottens, spent years looking for the best available treatments – both in Australia and overseas.
Today, the family feels fortunate that Macquarie University Hospital offered Jack his best option in Gamma Knife surgery.
“Just last month we had to put our family home in Berwick on the market to help us manage over $500000 of debt that we have amassed over the past seven years since Jack’s AVM diagnosis,” said Ms Ottens.
Ms Ottens said she was grateful to the team at Macquarie University Hospital for giving “us some hope for Jack’s future.”
“When Jack was first diagnosed with AVM, we were told he would be unlikely to live past his tenth birthday.
“Without the Doug and Monique Thompson Fund, we would have never been able to even consider Gamma Knife surgery as a possible treatment option for Jack,” she said.
