An Auckland father says he has "never had more to live for" after being diagnosed with a brain tumour just weeks before the birth of his twin daughters.
When Billy Samountry was diagnosed with a Grade 3 brain tumour, his partner Jesse was preparing to give birth while the couple cared for their three-year-old son Roman.
The diagnosis would be life-changing for any family. For Billy and Jesse, it came after a year already marked by heartbreak.
Last year, the couple lost their daughter Rhea after a pregnancy complicated by a rare immune condition that caused Jesse’s body to attack the unborn baby.
The condition was only identified after Rhea’s death.
"There are no words for that kind of loss,” Billy wrote in an online post.
"Only those who have been through it will understand the particular silence it leaves behind."
When the couple later learned they were expecting twins, Jesse underwent weekly immunotherapy treatment throughout the pregnancy to reduce the risk of the same complications occurring again.
Every Friday, she spent around eight hours at Auckland Hospital receiving an IVIG infusion.
"She did that for pretty much the entire pregnancy," Billy said.
While Jesse continued to navigate another difficult pregnancy, Billy was dealing with health concerns of his own.
Around September last year Billy began experiencing neurological symptoms, including foot drop and seizures, affecting the right side of his body.
Despite numerous tests and hospital visits, doctors were unable to determine the cause.
Seizure
Then, while staying in hospital with Jesse before the twins were born, Billy suffered a seizure that was unlike the others.
"I vomited, passed out, woke up. They rushed me to do an MRI, and then they found the tumour," he said.
Doctors diagnosed him with a Grade 3 astrocytoma in the left frontal lobe of his brain.
Just two weeks later, the couple welcomed twin daughters Lyra Mae and Juniper Mira into the world. Their birth brought relief, but not without further challenges.
One of the babies required neonatal care, while Jesse experienced serious bowel complications that kept the family in hospital for eight days.
At home, the couple’s toddler Roman was eagerly waiting to meet the twins.
"Watching him meet his sisters for the first time is something I’ll carry with me always," Billy recalled.
He said that experience had given him a different perspective on the challenges ahead.
"So here I am, figuring out how to be present for a toddler and two newborns and face a brain tumour diagnosis, all at once," he wrote.
"I have never had more to live for."
Support from family and friends
As the family adjusted to life with newborn twins and Billy’s diagnosis, friends, workmates and strangers began offering support.
Billy, who works as a movie set builder, said colleagues from the film industry organised a fundraising garage sale and established a Givealittle page to help the family.
"The support’s been pretty awesome, to be honest," he said.
"Friendships from a decade, two decades ago, they’ve reached out."
The page has raised more than $9000 from over 160 donors in less than a month.
In a message thanking supporters, Billy said he had been overwhelmed by the response.
"The film crew I have had the privilege of working with didn’t just show up on set," he said.
"They showed up for me and my family in a way I will never forget."
Billy said his focus remained not on his health condition, but on what was waiting for him at home.
"I don’t know exactly where this road leads," he wrote.
"But I know what’s waiting for me at home: a toddler who needs his dad, two newborn girls who have only just arrived in this world, and a partner who has been through more this year than anyone should have to bear.
"That’s enough to keep walking for."
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