ETHAN'S FESTIVE MIRACLE!

Watching her son thrive fills Mindy with joy

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Mindy Monck will never forget the Christmas she felt so sad she simply "couldn't smile".

Her beautiful 18-month-old son, Ethan, was facing the fight of his life following a devastating kidney cancer diagnosis.

Instead of excitedly waiting for Santa and tearing wrapping paper off his toys under the tree like other little boys his age, Ethan was heavily sedated, having just undergone gruelling surgery at Monash Children's Hospital, 200km away from his home in Sale, Victoria.

"Christmas Day was quite a hard day for us," an emotional Mindy tells Woman's Day.

"Ethan wasn't able to open his eyes or his presents. It was his first Christmas where he could acknowledge it. He should have been able to open those gifts, [have] us see the happiness on his face, but unfortunately that wasn't our reality."

REMEMBER FOREVER