Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
Inspirational Eden hoping for all-clear after five-year battle with aggressive cancer
THE dad of a young girl who has been battling cancer since she was only one has said seeing her bravery should be an inspiration.
Eden Eyre was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer called neuroblastoma in 2017.
Her parents could tell their baby was in pain for months and it took Billy, 37, and Emma O’Grady, 38, from Brentford, to attend hospital six to seven times in one night to get her diagnosed.
Doctors found a tumour nearly 14cm in diameter in her abdomen and Eden, who is now seven, underwent 18 rounds of chemotherapy and spent around 300 nights in total at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Around 18 months after receiving frontline treatment, Eden’s condition improved and the family found a treatment in America that they were told would help keep the cancer from returning.
They set up a fundraiser in partnership with the Bradley Lowery Foundation and they were able to raise £200,000 and began going to America every three months.
Billy said: “We’ve finally got to a point where Eden is waiting for her final scan. Great Ormond
Street will keep an eye on her until she’s 18, but for now, her last scan is coming up. At the start of it, Eden never knew what was going on but as she’s gotten older and wiser – she likes going into the CT scan, she calls it the ‘big doughnut’.
“We read her books when she goes in and when you speak to her, you wouldn’t know she went through this.
“When we found out she had cancer, we were planning to move; we gave up our house, sorted out new jobs and three weeks before we went to move, that’s when she was admitted to the hospital. We just had to pick up the pieces.
“We had to be there for Eden so it worked out in the end. You don’t realise how much this affects the family when it’s happening – you have nightmares, stuff like that, it’s craziness.”
The family have gone through it all together, including Eden’s two younger siblings. Her younger sister Willow took her first steps in Great Ormand Street while Eden was receiving treatment.
When they set up their Justgiving page, The Eden Eyre Fairy Project, Billy was blown away by the support.
He said: “When you get to my age, you think everyone is hating on you and the community isn’t there for you, then something like this happens. It really warms the heart.
“We had an anonymous donor who donated £50k, it was unbelievable. We had people sending toys and fairies and we got some from Canada, Australia and a parcel from Uganda with all the kids going ‘Good luck Eden!’. It was mad.
“We get a lot of people saying to us how we got through it but failures not an option when it comes to your kids. She [Eden] has received around 60 bags of blood infused into her and 100 bags of platelets, she’s gone through the thick of it. I don’t know anybody who has gone through as much general anaesthetic as she has. It’s been a rollercoaster ride but it’s been made easier by the people at the Bradley Lowery Foundation and Great Ormond Street.”
Eden’s treatment was not available in the UK so help from the foundation and hospital was vital. Lynn Murphy, co-founder and chief operations officer at the Bradley Lowery Foundation, said: “Eden’s campaign went amazingly well and Eden’s family and friends successfully raised the money she needed to access the DFMO trial in Michigan, to prevent the relapse of the neuroblastoma.
“Eden’s family didn’t need much help with the fundraising as their campaign was a huge hit from start to finish. Once the funds are raised, the charity liaises with hospitals to support the transfer of medical reports. We also book all flights and accommodation on behalf of the families to help take the added stress away from the family.
“Eden is nearing the end of her treatment, which is amazing news. She has been through such a tough journey with gruelling treatments, long hospital stays and being away from her siblings. It’s extremely tough for the whole family, but Eden took it all in her stride and has come out of the other end a happy, positive little girl.”
Billy said: “You can’t put a cost on life and the treatment Eden had in the UK would have been at least a million so were so grateful for the NHS and what they gave but we still needed to go to America.
“You can’t let cancer rip the family up and we wanted to make sure we gave Eden a chance to live her life. We took her to Disneyworld last year because we wanted to give her something and we are glad we were able to give her that.
“We’ve seen children the same age who weren’t able to fully recover from the same cancer as Eden so we know how important it is to make those memories.”