FOR the Manning family, Christmas last year signified the beginning of a fierce health battle for their youngest son, Waylon, with the 10-year-old diagnosed with a rare cancer unresponsive to treatment - until the family entered him into an international medical trial with no idea how successful it would be.

Last year, two weeks before Christmas, Broken Hill local and Waylon's mother Rachel Manning, who now resides in Mildura with her husband Matt, found a small lump protruding from her son's back.