Brave leukaemia boy Zac flies to US for treatment . . . thanks to Mail readers!
Four-year-old is on his way for therapy that could save his life after YOU helped raise £600k
AS he wheels his suitcase to the airport with a broad grin across his face, Zac Oliver looks like a little boy who cannot wait to get away on his holidays.
Only the oxygen tube attached to his nose gives a hint to the four-yearold’s true reason for being so excited.
For, after months of uncertainty – and a fundraising campaign which exceeded its £500,000 target – the little leukaemia patient is finally about to get the pioneering treatment that could save his life.
as he flew off to america from Manchester airport yesterday, his mother Hannah Oliver-Willets, 33, spoke of their mixture of happiness and relief, saying: ‘We just can’t wait to go now. I want us to be there.’
Zac, who has a rare form of the blood cancer, is going to a world-leading hospital for a course of treatment currently unavailable in Britain.
and it is thanks to the generosity of daily Mail readers. after we highlighted Zac’s plight last month you rushed forward with donations, including one mystery donor who stumped up £100,000.
It meant the target for Zac’s treatment at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia was reached. He is expected to begin his therapy as soon he has recovered from his flight.
The hospital is the leading authority on CAR T-cell therapy, which doctors say will give Zac a 60-80 per cent chance of survival.
Zac is believed to be the only child in the Uk with the near haploid strain of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a condition which affects one in 200 childhood sufferers worldwide.
His mother and his father, Mark Garbett, launched their fundraising drive after learning that a bone marrow transplant or chemotherapy – the only treatments available to Zac in Britain – had a less than 25 per cent chance of saving him.
yesterday Mr Garbett said: ‘Zac’s excited about flying because he knows going to america is hopefully how he is going to be able to get better.
‘It’s been a long slog but now we are just looking forward to the start of Zac’s treatment.’
Plumber Mr Garbett, 37, said £630,000 has now been raised, easing worries over how the family would meet ongoing costs in the months of treatment ahead.
He added: ‘We just want to thank everybody once again for their support, both financial and emotional.
‘It is heart-warming how Zac’s plight has caught people’s attention. The good news is, no matter what happens to Zac, there should be money left over at the end of this for us to help another child.’
Mr Garbett, who is separated from Mrs Oliver-Willets but still lives close by in Broseley, near Telford in Shropshire, will fly out tomorrow to join them.
Zac’s plight captured hearts across Britain, with X Factor guru Simon Cowell’s £50,000 donation among thousands made to his crowdfunding page.
after the target was reached, a bone marrow biopsy in the Uk was brought forward by three weeks to clear the way for Zac to fly to the US.