Family’s £150k appeal to help Eden beat rare cancer
HOPE TO GIVE GIRL, SIX, SPECIAL TREATMENT IN AMERICA
THE family of a little girl with a rare form of cancer are desperately trying to fund treatment that will stop the disease from coming back – but it costs more than £150,000.
Lee Smith’s daughter, Eden, was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma – which affects fewer than 100 children every year in the UK – in April, less than a month after her sixth birthday.
For Eden, from Holmfirth, the rare cancer has left her with a survival rate of just under 50% and her devastated parents are now trying to fund expensive treatment in the United States.
The treatment, which costs $210,000 (£154,810), will help to reduce Eden’s chance of a relapse and thus increase her chance of survival, but for her to get to the stage where the treatment can be effective she must first be in full or partial remission.
Her dad, Lee, 47, said: “We’re not quite there yet, but we’re trying to start early and get some funds in place.
“With neuroblastoma, even if she gets the all-clear from the disease there’s a 60% chance that it could come back, then if it comes back the chances of survival plummet.
“There is a treatment in America that she can have, if she goes into remission, but that improves her survival chances up to 86% I think it is.”
So far, Eden has had to undergo numerous rounds of gruelling chemotherapy to try to shrink the cancerous tumour, which will then require surgery to remove.
Only when Eden has had surgery to remove the tumour will she be able to have the treatment in America, which reduces the chances of a tumour reforming.
The six-year-old will soon be having her final round of chemotherapy at Leeds General Infirmary and her parents are keeping their fingers crossed that this gets her to “where she needs to be”.
Lee said: “America’s 20 years ahead of the UK, so the treatment that’s available in the UK is quite harsh – it’s chemotherapy to the point where she gets surgery and then, once she’s had surgery, she has to have high dose chemotherapy which is four to six weeks in hospital full-time. “And then it’s radiotherapy
There is a treatment in America that she can have that improves her survival chances up to 86%
and then it’s immunotherapy, so it’s a lot of stages to go through and, at the moment, we’re just trying to get to surgery.
“We’ve done quite a lot of chemotherapy and we’ve got one left in a couple of weeks time and then, if she isn’t at the stage for surgery, we’ll have to look at a clinical trial or something, so we’re getting quite close to surgery but it’s just not going quick enough.”
Eden’s mum, Jen Ramsden, has been spending most of the time in hospital with Eden as Lee has had to continue working.
Lee said “She’s definitely finding it tougher than me – obviously I don’t have to spend as much time in hospital with Eden but we’re just trying to remain positive.”
Eden is one of the most positive members of the family – despite being so poorly.
Lee said: “She knows as much as we can tell her, obviously we don’t talk to her about percentages, she understands about cancer but we’re trying to keep her away from what happens if she doesn’t get rid of it.
“She’s coping really well – she’s really bubbly, she’s a happy smiley kid and, apart from feeling sick through chemo, she wasn’t too fussed about losing her hair, she’s taken everything in her stride. She’s stronger than we are.”
Lee and Jen are both working hard to stay as positive as they can under the circumstances, not just for little Eden but for her older sister, Tia, nine, who Lee said has been “fab”.
He said: “She’s like a mother to her, so she’s been really good and is coping really well.”
The family have launched an online fundraiser to try and raise as much money as they can, so that when Eden goes into remission she can travel to The States and get the treatment.
If you would like to donate to the fundraiser, search Eden’s Fight Against Cancer Blasting Neuroblastoma on GoFundMe.