A fundraising campaign is raising money for one-and-a-half-year-old Kealii Jevdenijevic whose family say he needs to go to the United States for treatment for a tumour that had wrapped around his brainstem.

Dennis Jevdenijevic, Kealii’s father, said on GoFundMe, the fundraiser had been set up to pay for the three month long treatment in Florida, which had an estimated cost of $290,000, and he said he wanted the whole family, himself, his fiancé Zoe, and their two other children, Anakai, and Zailey, to be able to travel together.

Mr Jevdenijevic said medical tests conducted at the Queensland Children’s Hospital revealed the Grade II Ependymoma tumour had wrapped around Kealii’s brainstem and had begun to drop into his spinal cord. On January 23 Kealii underwent a nine-hour craniotomy, and then spent five days in the pediatric intensive care unit post-surgery, and while the surgery went well, the right side of his face was paralysed, which included his voice box.

“Owing to the tumour being close to his brain stem and some vital nerves attached to the brain stem, there were severe risks associated with the surgery, which were all risks the Jevdenijevic family was willing to take to help Keali,” he wrote.

“Kealii now has difficulty with not being able to close his right eye, requiring eye drops to be applied every two hours, difficulty swallowing fluids, and has a much lower voice tone and speech partially impaired.”

Mr Jevdenijevic said they were informed that this type of tumour was renowned for returning, and due to Kealii’s age, and the fact the surgery went so well in being able to remove as much of the tumour they did, they were provided with two options of radiation type treatment, and the family had chosen proton therapy treatment.

In an update on the page on March 15, accompanied by a document that said it was a treatment cost estimate made by the Proton Therapy Institute, Mr Jevdenijevic said the treatment cost had risen from about $250,000 to about $290,000, which did not include flights and accommodation for the three months that Kealii was required to be in Florida for treatment.

The GoFundMe, has a target of $250,000 and had raised about $200,000 by March 22

Mr Jevdenijevic said the Queensland Children’s Hospital had applied for commonwealth assistance to get Kealii to Florida, however it was subject to approval which takes between six to 10 weeks, and the funding would only cover one parent to travel with Kealii and the treatment cost.

He said it had been five week since Kealii’s craniotomy and the family had been told the boy’s best opportunity for successful treatment would be for it to start before the three month post-operation mark.

“We are currently dependent on a single income and want to keep our family together for this,” Mr Jevdenijevic said.

“We aren’t usually a family to request support from friends and community like this, but our little boy needs our help. We are seeking any assistance we can to get Kealii and our family to Florida to start his treatment with the hope of curing his cancer and allowing him to continue living a quality life.

“We are really thankful for the support and donations we have received to date. Our community is truly an amazing place, and we want to extend our thanks to others who have reached out with support beyond our community!

“We thank you for your generosity and support during this time.”

You can donate at the GoFundMe page.