We’re depending on strang
THREE months ago two-year-old Isla Caton’s parents received shocking news that their daughter had neuroblastoma, a rare cancer which started in the adrenal glands above her kidneys. Although the toddler is currently undergoing intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, there is a 50 per cent chance that the disease will return.
Pioneering treatments such as immunotherapy, which harnesses the body’s own immune system to fight the cancer, could greatly improve Isla’s chances of survival. However the procedure isn’t available on the NHS so the family’s only hope is to take part in a new trial in America.
Her desperate parents Michael Hook, 48, and Nicola Caton, 38, who also have an older daughter Amelia, 16, are now on a mission to raise the £200,000 needed to fund little Isla’s treatment. “I wouldn’t wish this on any parent,” says Michael from Stratford, east London.
“The last few months have been devastating but Isla’s a little fighter and we’ll do whatever it takes to get her to America. We both have good jobs – I work in IT and Nicola manages a salon – but we knew there was no way we could raise that kind of money on our own.” So instead the couple, who have already raised £20,000 through holding bake sales, raffles and sponsored events, have turned to a crowdfunding website, desperately hoping that complete strangers will be prepared to provide the rest of the money they need.
Fundraising website Just Giving says it saw a 350 per cent increase in crowdfunding for medical costs in 2016 and expects to see a further 280 per cent rise this year.
“We have seen a substantial increase in both the number of crowdfunding pages started and the amount raised for medical treatment in recent years,” says a Just Giving spokesman.
“Since our crowdfunding platform launched, £25million has been raised for medical costs which is a third of the overall money raised by crowdfunding on our site.
“Sadly the most common reason for setting up a crowdfunding page for medical costs is parents who want to raise money for cancer treatment abroad for their child.”
As in Isla’s case, some cutting-edge treatments are not yet available to younger patients in the