MIRACLE BOY BRODIE'S NINE LIVES!

This brave little lad from Victoria proved he was a fighter even before he was born

- Astha Gupta

Watching Brodie Mitchell kick a ball in his backyard now, it’s hard to believe the misfortunes he’s experienced in eight incredibly challenging years.

“He really is the boy with nine lives,” says mum Carly Mitchell from Pakenham, Victoria.

“People call him unlucky, but I think we are truly lucky to still have him around.”

At birth, Brodie had his cord caught up from his neck to his feet, and at nine months he fractured his skull after rolling onto the floor when the straps of the baby capsule built into a trolley he was in snapped.

The toddler spent two weeks in hospital and just when he seemed to have settled down at home, spending time with his siblings Sienna, then seven, and Kade, two, the family was in for another shock.

“One morning he woke up and was walking sideways and crying in pain, pointing to his legs. Within hours he had purple spots on his legs, and thinking it was meningitis I rushed him to the doctor,” says Carly, 40.

Blood tests showed the 19-month-old had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.