Weeks to live but now given the all-clear
AISLA CATON is four and was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in March 2017. She lives in Hornchurch, Essex, with parents Nicola Caton and Michael Hook.
“We were devastated” says Nicola. “We were told that she only had weeks to live, as the cancer was in 98 per cent of her body. It had even spread to every finger and toe, and the vertebrae in her back.
“She started chemotherapy straight away and in July was told that she was free from it. But then it came back in her brain in February last year, and we were told there was nothing more that we could do, and to take her home, as she had just weeks to live.
“But we refused to give up on her. I contacted doctors in Barcelona who said they would give her treatment involving three types of chemotherapy combined.
“We were told in the UK that Aisla was terminal but in March she was given the all-clear, which was amazing.we have been in Barcelona sinceaugust and are still here, finishing our treatment.
“To date, we have spent over £500,000.We live in one of the richest countries in the world yet we and other families are having to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds to keep our children alive, and that doesn’t seem right.
“Our daughter would have died if we hadn’t been able to raise that money.”