A 15-year-old schoolboy’s life has been turned upside down after a harmless earache turned out to be a rare facial tumour requiring extensive reconstruction surgery using bones harvested from his own body.

Matthew Williams first complained to his mum about an earache and sore jaw in July, symptoms that were initially brushed off as swimmer’s ear and treated with antibiotics.

However, after Matthew’s symptoms refused to budge, a dentist X-ray picked up concerning images.

“We looked at the screen and the dentist goes ‘there’s this big black blur’,” Matthew’s mum Jen Williams told news.com.au.

The dentist told Ms Williams they did not know what the mass could be and referred the Port Macquarie family on to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle for further investigation.

“I got this sinking feeling in my stomach,” Ms Williams said.

Following further tests, doctors found an aggressive tumour growing inside Matthew’s jaw, destroying bone and tissue as it settled in.

“I bawled and said ‘what does this mean’ and he said ‘it could be any type of tumour and they’re rare in boys his age’,” Ms Williams recalled.

Matthew bravely pushed through hours of testing and a biopsy of the tumour before being discharged until doctors could confirm how to treat the invasive growth.

“Five o’clock that day we wobbled out of John Hunter Hospital and Matthew goes ‘can I go to the toy shop now?’,” Ms Williams said.

“And I was just there crying and said ‘sure’.”

A week later in August, Matthew was diagnosed with a rare, slow-growing but aggressive form of tumour known as ameloblastoma.

“It’s tough to watch anyone get that diagnosis, let alone your own son. I’d take the tumour from him if I could,” Ms Williams said of the pain she felt learning of Matthew’s diagnosis.

The type of tumour is so rare it only accounts for one per cent of all tumours found in the jaw, and is usually only found in adults aged between 30 and 40-years-old.

The growth is benign but its aggressive nature means it invades surrounding tissue, destroying everything in its path.

Ms Williams said her son’s specialist doctor had only treated three cases in his entire career.

The teen is now preparing for a major surgery on Tuesday that will require doctors to remove a piece of fibula bone from his leg in order to reconstruct a gaping hole the tumour has eaten away in his jaw.

“It’s just destroyed all the teeth and it’s eaten out most of his jawbone,” Ms Williams said.

Matthew will require three surgical teams of maxillofacial, vascular and orthopaedic surgeons, with the operation performed under the supervision of oral surgeon Professor Gary Hoffman.

“They have to take about 10cm from the fibular bone because of the size of his tumour, and then reconstruct it into a jawbone that matches the other side of his face,” Ms Williams said.

“They put some titanium metal plates that look like a bike chain from his ear around to his face and they get all the muscles and the blood vessels … and attach it.

“That’s step one.”

Matthew’s recovery could take six to 12 months but the emotional toll on him and his family may make the period more difficult due to his autism diagnosis.

Post-operative swelling of the face and neck will mean the teen will have a trachea pipe inserted and will not be able to speak, having to utilise a communication board to convey himself.

“Down the track then we’ll have to do more surgeries as they start putting implants in his jaw and eventually false teeth,” Ms Williams said.

“He loves his steak, he’s going to have to learn to like noodles.”

The surgery will require Matthew’s family to relocate from Port Macquarie for several weeks as he is treated in a hospital more than two hours from home.

Ms Williams and her husband James will be able to stay with Matthew at the Ronald McDonald House while he is a patient.

However, the family is still worried about covering the costs of Matthew’s surgery and recovery as well as making up for time off work that both parents are taking to support their son.

“Once we get out of the hospital, we can’t come home to Port Macquarie, we’ve got to spend another three to four weeks in Newcastle for outpatient clinics so we’ve got to stay down there,” Ms Williams said.

“We’ve still got our bills at home and then there’s post-operative care.

“If you want people to help your son, you’ve got to pay for them.”

Despite his age, Matthew knows the financial burden such a large surgery will have on his family.

“He was feeling really depressed, he said ‘mum, dad, you can’t afford the mortgage, we’re going to lose the house’,” Ms Williams said.

“He’s worrying about that when he’s got a tumour.”

A GoFundMe has been set up to support the family, already raising more than half of its $13,000 goal.

Ms Williams said she hopes sharing Matthew’s story will help further the understanding of her son’s rare condition.

“In the surgery they’re going to document everything because it’s very rare and a few of the doctors up here have said ‘can we teach our people’,” she said.

“I gave them full access to the medical records. There will be another family one day and the more doctors that can learn about it, the better.”