‘Now he’s dancing in the light’

EXCLUSIVE 

A heartbroken Australian actor is grieving the loss of his 10-year-old son who has lost his battle with a rare type of brain tumour.

Eka Darville, best known for his starring roles in Power Rangers RPM and Marvel’s Jessica Jones and The Defenders, put his career on hold earlier this year after his son Mana was diagnosed with aggressive glioneuronal brain cancer.

After being told there was little more doctors could do in Australia, Darville and his wife Lila moved their young family to America, where Mana underwent high-risk marathon surgery in April to remove as much as possible of the primary tumour.

Updates on Mana’s condition and recovery remained private until recently when Darville revealed his son was still fighting but the tumour was growing back ‘faster than ever’, as he urged fans to keep his son in their prayers.

Darville’s mother Malaika has now revealed in an heartbreaking video that her grandson Mana died in the U.S. over the weekend.

‘I still wanted to come together in this prayer because he’s still always gonna be with us and he’s still with us,’ she said in a video shared on the Let’s Go Mana page.

‘You can imagine the amount of sadness and grief of Eka, Lila and Lila’s parents, his grandparents, myself, his little brothers.

‘But at the same time, there’s a lot of joy. There’s a lot of peace. There’s a lot of stillness in the house after such a long struggle for 463 days since the whole ordeal began. And now he’s free. Now he’s dancing in the light.’

‘We all see it, we feel it and I know that many of you, like myself, loved Mana eternally.’

She described her grandson as like no other child.

‘Mana managed to touch more hearts than most do in a whole lifetime,’ Malaika added.

‘And he will continue to touch hearts with his story, courage and strength and wisdom coming in to the highest frequencies of the ascended masters, the angelic realms, the angels, the light help guide man to pour our love into his soul.’

The sad news sparked an outpouring of tributes from those following Mana’s journey.

Former Home and Away star and fellow Byron Bay local Isabel Lucas was among a host of high-profile stars to share condolences.

‘I grieve with you, honouring his life. I love you so much,’ she wrote.

LA-based Aussie actress Teresa Palmer added: ‘Sending immense love your way, friends.’

Darville had only recently revealed that Mana was still fighting, despite the latest devastating setback.

He vowed to seek the best medical care available with plans to access additional treatments from Europe and Japan.

‘Three grueling surgeries, 2 continents, countless therapies and Mana’s undeniable will… 8 months later he is still with us. Still fighting,’ Darville wrote on an online fundraiser on October 18. 

‘We’ve been on an absolute odyssey these last six months with highs and lows that have stretched our capacity to ‘human’ beyond every limit we thought we had.’

‘We’ve witnessed real-life miracles as Mana went from not being able to walk, to doing ninja rolls off the side of the bed, rock climbing, swimming and not just getting out of the wheelchair but running unassisted! 

‘The gut-punch news is that after months of stability and miraculous progress in his physical rehab, the tumour has clawed its way back and is growing faster then ever.

‘In the face of this newest challenge we are unwavering in our commitment to his complete healing and will accept nothing less.’

The family’s lives were turned upside down in July 2022 when Mana collapsed on a beach and suffered a seizure that left the right side of his body paralysed.

At the time, he was misdiagnosed with Focal Cortical Dysplasia, a brain abnormality that had supposedly been there since birth.

For the next five months, Mana continued to suffer daily uncontrolled seizures and was eventually rushed to hospital again in January, where an MRI revealed two large tumours growing across the surface of his brain.

He underwent a marathon 14-hour operation in Australia but only 60 per cent of one tumor could be removed before Darville turned to overseas to find a cure for Mana.

Originally from Byron Bay in northern NSW, Darville is best known for his role as Malcolm Ducasse in Marvel’s Jessica Jones and The Defenders and as the Red Ranger Scott Truman in Power Rangers RPM and its sequel Samurai.

He has also featured in Spartacus, Terra Nova, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, Empire, Her Smell and Tell Me a Story.

His latest role in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is due to hit cinemas in 2024.