Family raising funds for cancer trip to America

Fife youngster to get treatment in US and needs his sisters to go with him

The family of a cancer-stricken Fife toddler are raising money to take him to America for proton beam therapy.

Three-year-old Dean has a rare cancer affecting his tongue and the NHS is paying for the treatment and his parents’ travel.

However, the treatment is expected to take at least eight weeks and Dean’s mother Jacqueline Buckner, of Dunfermline, is fundraising so his twin Elise and older sister Hailey, five, are not left at home.

So far, the Go Fund Me web page set up to take donations has raised more than half of the £10,000 target.

“The NHS are going to fund his treatment and pay for me and his dad to go with him but will not pay for his twin and older sister, so we need to raise the funds to help bring the family back together and give Dean all the love and support he needs,” said Ms Buckner, 31.

Posting an update on Facebook, she added: “We have been overwhelmed with the generosity of friends, family and strangers alike.

“We never once wanted to ask for help or be so public about Dean’s situation, but at this point we need to swallow our pride and do whatever we can for him with the help of all of you beautiful kind people.

“All the love and support we have received has been incredible.”

Dean has spindle cell rhabdomyosarcoma which affects soft tissue like muscle.

The family were given the heartbreaking news that Dean has cancer after finding a lump on his tongue on his third birthday in July last year.

After four rounds of chemotherapy, his tumour shrunk in size by 83% but the remaining malignant tissue will be difficult to remove without causing Dean life-long problems with breathing and swallowing.

Proton beam therapy, still being developed in the UK, can destroy cancerous cells without affecting healthy tissue, which can happen with conventional radiotherapy.

Things got worse for Dean shortly after he went into hospital for a biopsy.

In what the family has described as a “freak accident”, he experienced swelling which crushed and damaged a large part of his bowel.

“Dean has been forced to stay in the hospital being fed through his veins as his little bowel has not started working yet for the last four months,” said Ms Buckner.

“Unable to come home, he needs me or his dad there every day and the girls need one of us at home, so we have been split apart for what feels like an eternity.”

Brave: Dean and his twin sister Elise, from Dunfermline.