Tuesday 7 June 2022 05:31 PM Cancer-stricken two-year-old boy Joey Potter replies to a 'knock knock' joke ... trends now
Parents of a toddler fighting cancer have shared details about the heart-warming moment he replied to a 'knock knock' joke after surgery that could have left him brain dead.
Two-year-old Joey Potter underwent a difficult operation to remove a tumour, half of his liver, and about a third of his diaphragm in April.
His parents Jack Potter, 37, and Kitty Cook, 36, from the Brisbane suburb of Moorooka waited nervously afterwards for him to wake up.
Despite barely being able to open his eyes after a massive blood transfusion to save his life, the little boy could not resist his dad's 'knock knock' joke.
'Knock knock,' his father asked him.
'Who's there?' Joey weakly replied.
'The interrupting cow.'
'Moo'.
Mr Potter said he burst into tears when he heard the response.
Jack Potter with six-and-half-month-old daughter Luna, Kitty Cook and two-year-old Joey (pictured)
Joey's parents have been in awe of his strength since at six-months-old he was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer.
He had previously had a surgery to remove that tumor, along with his right kidney, and appeared to have beaten the disease.
But in March this year, just a week after Ms Cook's father unexpectedly died, the couple were told the cancer was back and the survival rate for relapses of this type of growth, a Wilms tumor, was only 50 per cent.
The devastated couple prepared Joey for surgery again, this time to remove the 6cm growth, half of his liver and a third of his diaphragm.
While the operation 'went terribly' it was also lifesaving.
A bit of scar tissue from the previous operation had attached to his biggest vein causing a tear as they were operating.
The surgeons had literally seconds to save his life and a blood transfusion of three times his circulating blood volume was needed.
They took 45 minutes to stablise his condition but the team feared the blood loss could have caused catastrophic brain damage.
It wasn't until Joey spoke his first words after the operation that it was clear he was his old self.
Joey Potter, 2, had a tumor as well as half his liver and a third of his diaphragm removed in an operation in which doctors have
