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Melbourne family reunited with son after two years – thanks to a stranger

A Melbourne family have finally been reunited with their eldest son after two years – thanks to a stranger.

Tom Jose and Joicy Ephrem, who are both mental health nurses, have finally got Ephrem, five, home from India after saying goodbye to him two years ago,

They sent him to spend time with both their families in Kerala, in June 2019, as is common in their culture.

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The Jose family have been reunited after two years, after their son Ephrem was stuck in India.

But when the borders were closed due to coronavirus in March 2020, he remained trapped there, a situation Mr Jose described as "horrible".

They had tried to go and fetch him, but feared all getting stuck there away from their jobs, with 10,500 still stranded in the nation due to Australia's travel caps which limit numbers allowed home.

But thanks to Linda Thomas and her husband Joby, from Tamworth in NSW, the family is now together again.

Her and her husband brought not one but two young children home with them.

Ephrem was joined by Mrs Jose in hotel quarantine before reuniting with the rest of the family this week.

Ephrem travelled home with a stranger, Linda Thomas, who the family met on Facebook.

Mr Jose, 34, said he was overcome when he saw his son at Melbourne Airport.

He told 9News.com.au he had "joyful tears in his eyes".

"We are so excited and happy," he said.

READ MORE: India's coronavirus death toll just jumped, here's why

"We had been trying to bring him back."

Mother Joicy, said it was "very, very exciting," to see him again.

She described Linda as "amazing" for bringing him back.

"Linda said Ephram was very good," she said.

Ephram also got to meet his baby brother Ezekiel, six months, for the first time.

His added while they were unsure about sending their son to travel with a stranger, once they talked to Mrs Thomas they trusted her.

They have still yet to meet her in person.

The couple are permanent residents of Australia and will soon become citizens, and Ephrem was born here.

Mrs Thomas said her and her husband also brought another child on the journey home.

"I'm a mother, I have three kids and if I was in that position I would be desperate to find someone to bring my child home," she said.

"I was like, why not?

Ephrem Jose has a new baby brother since he's been away.

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"The kids were really very brave."

About 200 children were stranded in India at the start of the month.

9News.com.au has asked DFAT what the latest number is.

Overall, a total of 34,000 Australians have told DFAT they want to come home, but only a few thousand a week can come into the country, and must pay about $3000 for hotel quarantine.

Australians can now apply to leave the country under the ongoing travel ban to go to India to bring their stranded child home with them.

Getting flights home remains difficult and expensive due to the flight caps and hotel quarantine.

A DFAT spokesperson said its "highest priority at this time is helping vulnerable Australians overseas."

"Around 10,400 Australians including citizens and permanent residents in India are currently registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as wanting to return," it said in a statement.

"We encourage Australians seeking to return to Australia to register their details with DFAT.

"Since March 2020, almost 22,300 Australians registered with DFAT have returned from India, of which over 8,000 were directly assisted on 50 facilitated flights departing from India."

headline

Mum calls for younger cancer screening after terminal diagnosis

Mother-of-three Emily Tindal thought she was having a bad asthma attack when she went to Canberra Hospital's emergency department last month.

The 35-year-old had been having trouble breathing since giving birth to her daughter Eleni three months ago.

Thinking it was adult-onset asthma, her GP prescribed her Ventolin and steroids, but the medication was not doing its job.

READ MORE: Mother pleads for young Aussies to know bowel cancer symptoms

Emily Tindal said she had been experiencing respiratory problems after Eleni's birth, but her GP put it down to adult-onset asthma.

On this day, her breathing was even more laboured, and her GP told her to get to the hospital.

There, puzzled doctors began a barrage of tests.

"I had about a million blood tests," Mrs Tindal said.

"The doctors thought I had an autoimmune disease and that it would be a very simple fix, it was just a matter of working out which autoimmune disease I had because there's so many."

Mrs Tindal spent two weeks in the respiratory ward at Canberra Hospital as doctors ordered CT scans and MRIs, trying to piece together what was wrong.

It was on one of those scans that doctors detected something on her liver.

The news, when it came, was devastating.

Mrs Tindal was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer, with doctors telling her she likely has just 12 months to live.

"It was such a shock, I had no real symptoms," Mrs Tindal said.

"There were no bowel problems. I literally had a cough and was short of breath.

"I was a bit tired too, but with the baby being born that was normal and to be expected."

Emily Tindal, pictured with her husband Sam.

Mrs Tindal said her grandfather had died of bowel cancer, but it had never been suggested to her that she might need to be screened for it herself.

Bowel cancer claims the lives of 5255 Australians every year, including 290 people under the age of 50. 

Under the national bowel cancer screening program, free test kits are sent out in the mail to people aged between 50 and 74 years.

Statistics released last week by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show the effectiveness of the screening process.

In 2019, the screening test kits led to a confirmed cancer diagnosis in 200 patients and suspected cancer in 1170 more.

Adenomas, benign growths with the potential to become cancerous, were identified in a further 5160 cases.

Mrs Tindal said she wished the screening test had been offered to her and she hoped the Federal Government would consider expanding the program to include younger people.

"There's definitely a need to make this available to younger people," she said.

"It should be like a pap smear. I just can't believe that if I had sent in one of these tests, I wouldn't be in this sort of situation."

Ms Tindal has vowed to fight her cancer and said her diagnosis help make her realise how lucky she was.

Deadliest cancer for young adults

Dr Graham Newstead is the director of Bowel Cancer Australia and the joint Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of New South Wales.

Dr Newstead said one in ten new cases of bowel cancer in Australia were now occurring in people under the age of 50 and it was the deadliest cancer among those aged 25-34. 

Based on those figures, Dr Newstead said there was an extremely strong case for the Federal Government to lower the age of those included in the screening program.

Last month, a national taskforce in the US recommended reducing the screening age for bowel cancer from 50 to 45.

Bowel Cancer Australia has been campaigning for the government to screen from 45 since 2018.

However, Dr Newstead said he had made a "passionate plea" to Health Minister Greg Hunt just two weeks ago for screening to begin at 40.

"We will be pushing very strongly that the bowel cancer screening test kit be commenced at 40 and in fact go to at least 80," he said.

"I spoke to Mr Hunt and his adviser during Bowel Cancer Awareness month, and they have asked us to provide a submission to the government to look at this as a major imperative."

A Health Department spokesperson said the age range for the screening program was chosen based on evidence from international bowel screening programs and follows guidelines approved by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

"While we do not actively invite Australians under 50 years of age to do the free home test kit, people who are not eligible can get a Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) funded bowel screening kit," the spokesperson said.

"This MBS kit is available from GPs and can be provided to people of any age."

Cases increasing in young people

Bowel cancer is on the rise in young people, both in Australia and overseas.

According to Bowel Cancer Australia, there has been a 186 per cent increase in bowel cancer cases in people aged 15-24 over the past three decades.

US studies have shown people born after 1990 have double the risk of colon cancer and quadruple the risk of rectal cancer, compared with people born in 1950.

While it was yet to be proven, Dr Newstead said changing diets were one of the most likely reasons people were being diagnosed with bowel cancer at younger ages.

"Over the last 30 or 40 years we have been eating different foods," he said.

"We no longer grow carrots in the back garden, bring them in, cook them and eat them. We buy our foods packaged in plastic wrapping with more additives and preservatives."

Dr Newstead said there was no doubt it also took longer for younger people to be diagnosed with bowel cancer.

Being aware of the symptoms of bowel cancer – such as blood in stools or a change in bowel habits – was key for patients, as was an alertness to them in doctors, he said.

Emily and Sam Tindal have three daughters - Rose (5), Clara (7) and Eleni who is three months old.

Mrs Tindal said she hoped sharing her story would help increase awareness about the disease among young people.

Meanwhile, Mrs Tindal said she was determined to throw everything she could at her cancer battle.

"We are fighters, and I'm going to give it a good crack," she said.

Mrs Tindal is undergoing chemotherapy and has already had emergency surgery to remove four metres of her bowel after a blockage was found.

She said the main lesson she had learned over the last few months was how lucky she was.

"Every day is just so precious," she said.

"You walk out the door one day thinking you're just going to the doctors and life changes as you know it.

"I'm so grateful for what I have had, and still have, because certainly I am going to fight this."

Contact reporter Emily McPherson at em********@******om.au.