Linus Smith and his parents' traumatic experience with cancer began with a bump on the three-year-old's hand that quickly developed into a lump.
After a biopsy came the chilling phone call about seeing an oncologist and then the diagnosis of a rare cancer.
"The next year involved trauma heaped upon trauma for our little boy," his father Jeremy Smith recalled.
Twelve years later, Linus is a healthy teenager and his dad, a barrister, is the chairman of the Children's Cancer Foundation.
Mr Smith shared his family's story on Sunday as he welcomed Labor's pledge to invest $37.7 million for a range of support services for children battling cancer if it wins the federal election.
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Labor and the Children's Cancer Foundation will each commit $10 million to create an endowment fund focused solely on clinical research to help children with cancer.
"What we want is a world where every child has the outcome that our son had," Mr Smith said.
"He is now aged 15, he's healthy, he's happy and his biggest issue is trying to get his head into the fridge without removing his headphones."
Labor also pledged $24 million to CanTeen, the national support organisation for young people living with cancer, and $3.7 million to Camp Quality to help families of children with cancer.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten admitted the amounts were very modest.
"What we're doing isn't something which deserves special praise. This is what governments should do to help people," he told reporters during a visit to Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital.
Camp Quality will use the funding to expand its network of family liaison coordinators in hospitals to rural and regional areas.
Labor said its funding would ensure CanTeen's youth cancer services, which provides specialist treatment and support for cancer patients aged 15 to 25, continued.
Sunday's announcement forms part of Labor's $2.3 billion cancer package, which includes a pledge to make almost all cancer scans free, as it pushes health as a key election issue.
