A regional Victorian community has banded together to raise money for a nine-year-old cancer patient whose Christmas display outside his home was destroyed.
Security cameras captured the moment a vandal tore down Ethan Simpson’s display in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The display was posted in the front yard of his Wodonga home and had Simpson’s favourite Pokemon characters.
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Simpson’s mother, Tiffany Motton, said her son had hand painted the display and was distraught when he saw it destroyed.
“He doesn’t understand why someone would do something like that,” Motton said.
Simpson was diagnosed 12 months ago with grade-three Anaplastic Ependymoma, an aggressive form of cancer found in the brain and sometimes in the spine.
The five-year survival rate for paediatric Ependymoma patients is about 60 per cent.
Motton said her son had finished his six weeks of radiation therapy and will likely go through more to keep shrinking the tumour.
Friends of the family launched an online fundraiser for Simpson to be able to build a new and even bigger display.
It raised $3700 – almost four times the goal of the fundraiser.
Motton said other locals had given Simpson and his little brother gifts to help create a better Christmas for them.
“We really appreciate it and everyone coming together. It’s nice to see that little bit of kindness shared,” she said.