In January, their youngest child, Ezekiel, was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour. The news came just days before his 4^th birthday. 

Ezekiel had just returned from a holiday with his grandparents when his mother, Sabrina Kesby, noticed something wasn't right. That was on January 11. 

It was a "strange shudder" in one eye that caught Mrs Kesby's attention. Ezekiel's uncle, a doctor, told the family the little boy needed to go to hospital. 

At the hospital they were told there was a problem with Ezekiel's optic nerve, which could be from a past trauma, or it could be tumour. 

The following day Ezekiel underwent an MRI during which doctors observed a large growth on the optic nerve.

"It was lunchtime, around one o'clock when we got the result," Mrs Kesby said. "The neurosurgeon came to talk to us."

"That was the worst part of it. We found out on the 12th, there were five more days before the surgery. At that time we had no idea what it could be."

Ezekiel underwent surgery on January 17 in an attempt to diagnose and remove the tumour. 

"The surgeon, when he came out of the operating theatre, his face wasn't happy," Mrs Kesby said. "I felt sick in the stomach."

The surgeon explained that due to its location the tumour could not be removed entirely without damaging Ezekiel's eyesight. 

And a biopsy would need to be performed to discover the type of tumour and Ezekiel's prognosis.  

The family waited another five days before learning the tumour was low grade. However, Ezekiel's treatment plan would include 12 months of chemotherapy in hope of shrinking the tumour.  

 EzekIel is currently undergoing the first round of chemotherapy, which will last 10 weeks. 

"He is the most loving and adorable child," Mrs Kesby said.

"Even having chemo, he is still in a good mood. He doesn't like the needle but after that he is so loving and cuddly. " 

Tanille Elley is Mrs Kesby's manager at the University of Newcastle.

She said the day Mrs Kesby came to her, to explain why she would need to resign from her  job, was the most heartbreaking moment she had experienced in the 18 years she has worked at the university. 

“I have never seen anyone that terrified,” Ms Elley said.

 “She was shaking and I felt so helpless. I felt I had to help in someway.”

Ms Elley has set up a Go Fund Me page: gofundme.com/support-little-zeke-through-his-chemo