Alberta boy headed to Washington to become third child in cancer trial

An Alberta boy and his parents are headed to Washington, D.C., to participate in a trial which will hopefully shrink away the terminal tumour in the six-year-old's brain.

If all goes well, Karter's eligibility will be confirmed with a couple of tests and he'll start the trial on Dec. 14, returning home to Edmonton on the 22nd.

"We'll be back for Christmas," Nicole Fraser promised her son during an interview with CTV News Edmonton at Karter's school on Friday.

"It's better this way. Then we're home for Christmas."

She told CTV News Edmonton, "He knows he has cancer, he's got a tumour in his brain and that we're fighting it. He knows we're going for a new treatment because we're going to kick this cancer's butt."

Karter was diagnosed in July with diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas, an aggressive and inoperable tumour in the stem of the brain.

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Children’s National Hospital in Washington is hosting the study of ultrasound-induced sonodynamic therapy to kill tumour cells. The ultrasound activates a chemical substance that kills the cancerous cells.

According to Karter's parents, he will be the third child involved in the study and the first Canadian. The two girls who went before him have seen promising results, they added.

"When they wake up, they were walking, dancing around and stuff. So it's promising results," Karter's dad Richard Bourgeault said.

Karter Bourgeault and his parents Richard Bourgeault and Nicole Fraser (CTV News Edmonton/Jessica Robb).

"Especially when the doctor tells you there's nothing and go home and make memories."

Friday was Karter's last day of school before the family flys south on Nov. 30, which means that he had to say goodbye for the time being to a good friend – a schoolmate who has been cancer free for eight years.

"When I was three, I had a lymph node cancer in this [left] side of my neck. The cancer I had was called Burkitt's lymphoma and I woke up one morning with a lump on my neck the size of a golf ball," Hudson Blanchard explained to CTV News Edmonton.

Karter Bourgeault and his friend Hudson Blanchard (Credit: Bourgeault family).

He had been shocked to hear another kid in his school had cancer. That had never happened before, Hudson said.

"I was like, 'Oh, that's sad. He goes to my same school, so I'm going to be buddies with him no matter what.'"

According to Karter, a buddy is like a friend – but better.

True to his word, Hudson and Karter have had lunch together every day at school. They both love Minecraft and playing board games.

While Karter is in Washington, they plan to hang out on video calls.

"After the cancer was gone, I rang a bell with all my friends there and family, and when I rang the bell, it was a signal that my cancer had been killed off," Hudson said.

"I'm really hoping [Karter] can, too… It would make me extremely happy."

It is the same thing Fraser and Bourgeault want.

"I think we have every emotion possible going on," Karter's mom said.

"Happy, worried… hopeful, at least," Bourgeault added. "Because lots of people have no hope with this. Thankful for the new trial."

"And hopeful it can help other kids," Fraser said.

According to the DIPG / DMG Resource Network, fewer than 10 per cent of children survive two years from a DIPG diagnosis.

The researchers hope to include a total of 18 patients in the youth study.

A similar trial with adult patients is underway in Arizona.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jessica Robb