Brave Anna’s high hopes
Eight-year-old Anna Drysdale took in a trip to the Empire State Building when she arrived in New York for treatment to fight a rare and aggressive cancer.
Anna is beginning innovative immunotherapy after a mystery benefactor stumped up £400,000 when they saw an appeal for help in the Sunday Express.
She went to the US with her mother Keeley, father Ian and sister Ellen and the family got the chance to go on a quick sightseeing trip.
Keeley said: “It has been nonstop but as always she is taking everything in her stride, bless her.”
Staff aboard the Virgin Atlantic flight made sure to look after their extra special VIP.
Anna was allowed into the cockpit to meet the pilots and enjoyed a beauty treatment with an air stewardess who painted her nails.
Keeley said: “It has been a hard and really full on time for Anna. An intense first week with lots of tests and scans and cannulas but she has been amazing as always.
“We are awaiting the results of tests now but if all is well she will have a mediport fitted ready to start treatment as soon as possible.
“It’s been really tough and we have been told it could be possible that the treatment may take much longer than we first thought and it is expensive here so we now have to keep fundraising.
“It is early days and we are taking it a day at a time.”
Because of the tough start the family spent a rare couple of free hours to try and keep spirits up with their visit to the Empire State Building. Keeley said: “We needed to do something fun to make up for it. But she’s still smiling through everything.”
Doctors in the US have said they believe the treatment, which teaches the body to detect cancer cells while boosting the immune system, should have a high chance of stopping Anna’s cancer from returning. She has fought bone sarcoma cancer twice already and is currently in remission.
But without the life-changing treatment it is almost certain the cancer, which was previously high grade and aggressive, will return.
Anna, from Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, is expected to undergo five cycles of immunotherapy which will be administered through a central line, most likely in her chest.
Each cycle will take 15 days with a 13-day break in between.
The family have been told to expect to be in New York for the next six months, if not longer.
In total, the cost is estimated to be £400,000.
● To help with donations, visit: justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ Anna-drysdale