Baby featured in documentary has brain tumour

A young couple featured in a CBC Saskatchewan documentary about absent aboriginal fathers is worried for the life of their baby daughter.

Tyson Kakakaway, 17, and Kelsey Geddes, 15, became parents during the filming of Blind Spot, and now their nine-month-old daughter, Clara, has been diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Wednesday, the baby was in hospital recovering from a surgery in which doctors tried to remove the tumour, but it's not clear if it was successful. 

"It kinda hurts seeing your baby like that," said Kakakaway.

"She looked at her mom, then she looked back at me, stared at me for a bit, then stared at her mom. She can't do nothing. She just lays there, except her eyes, they can move."

Clara's health had been deteriorating over the past month, to the point where she couldn't raise her head. That's when the couple took her to a specialist.

"And when we came here they gave her a CT scan and I guess they found a tumour at the back of the head…on the brain stem," said Kakakaway.

Kakakaway was one of several aboriginal fathers featured in the CBC documentary about the growing issue of absent dads and fatherless children in aboriginal families.

He says he's determined to be there for Clara, but is worried about what may happen to his daughter.

"Is she going to be ok? Is something going to be wrong with her after she's recovered? Like you know, what if I lose my daughter?"

These are the questions Kakakaway keeps asking himself, without any definite answers.

 Wednesday doctors performed an magnetic resonance imaging test (MRI) attempting to find out if the tumour is cancerous, and if so, how far it may have spread.

The teenage couple is now waiting for the results.