House sale to help Ethan

Ethan, 6, was diagnosed with a rare brain cancer in September.

By Alesha Capone and Esther Lauaki

Buying and selling a house is usually just a business transaction – but for one Werribee family, it means much more.

Parents Pranav and Shivani Desai sold their Manor Lakes investment property last month, to raise funds to put towards their son Ethan’s medical treatment and related expenses.

Ethan, aged six, has been diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, a rare and aggressive childhood brain tumour.

No treatments are available in Australia for the disease, so the family is planning to travel to the United States, in hopes of being accepted into a clinical trial which will cost more than $500,000.

An online fundraising campaign has raised $130,080 towards the trial, travel and accommodation expenses.

Mr and Mrs Desai have also sold their Manor Lakes investment property, to raise funds to put towards Ethan’s trip.

Reece Beckley from Barry Plant Werribee said the agency sold the house last month, without taking a commission.

The Manor Lakes property sold for $600,000.

“The directors and staff of Barry Plant Werribee have a genuine desire to provide care and service to our local community,” Mr Beckley said.

“Every now and then an opportunity presents itself where you are able to give back in spades – this is it.

“What an absolute pleasure it has been to work with Pranav and Shivani, to achieve a successful sale adding funds directly to Ethan’s fight.”

Mr Beckley said that Antoinette and Madeline from A4 Conveyancing in Werribee also offered their services to the Desai family, free of charge, during the sale of the house.

The couple who purchased the house, Melanie and Ken, said they were aware of Ethan’s plight when putting in an offer for the Manor Lakes property.

“We understood that it (the money raised from the sale of the house) is going to a good cause and how important that is, as parents ourselves,” Melanie said.

“We were very impressed with Barry Plant and how much they were doing to help out the family and how transparent they were, and how community-minded, that really impressed us.”

Melanie and Ken said they were planning to also donate to Ethan’s online fundraising campaign.

Details: bit.ly/2ur5TPO