OUR BATTLE FOR OTIS 'When you're given a death sentence. you'll do anything'

The Block star Rachel Rasch-Hill's 15-year-old son is fighting incurable cancer

- Cloe Willetts

Earlier this year, former The Block NZ favourite Rachel Rasch-Hill sat in a dark radiography room while her son Otis lay in front of a screen, which showed a large mass in the teenager's abdomen. Texting her husband Tyson Hill, Rachel said she was worried. Something wasn't right. Less than two weeks later, Rachel's fears were confirmed when doctors diagnosed their 15-year-old with a rare form of cancer. Devastatingly, the Wellington family was also told it was incurable.

"In the beginning, I couldn't sleep or eat for a month and thought I'd never be happy again," says Rachel, 45, who appeared in the first season of The Block NZ in 2012 with her hubby, 46.

"I wouldn't make eye contact with Tyson because every time I looked at him, I could see how heartbroken he was. But you kind of just get on with it and it becomes your new normal. Somehow, it has brought us all closer."

For music lover Otis, who plays lead guitar in the band Bleeding Star, a lump was found in his abdomen after his mother took him to the GP in February. While Rachel initially believed he wanted a day off school, thinking she'd call his bluff with a trip to the doctor, it turned out to be far more sinister.

"Otis had lost weight, but I put it down to his teenage puppy fat disappearing, and he had pains, which I thought were from growing," says Rachel, also mum to daughter Isa, nine. "He's been going through a bit of a health journey because he suffers anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. When the doctor found the lump, he said it was probably nothing and to keep an eye on it, but Otis couldn't get it out of his head."

Three days later, following another trip to the doctor, Otis was referred for a scan. As soon as he and Rachel stepped in the front door of their home after the appointment, her phone rang. It was the GP, who said the results had come back and were serious.