Battle to conquer cancer
‘The tumour turned all our lives upside down’ Fighting to have fun with his twin brother
THESE are the children whose desperate families are paying more than a million pounds to try to keep them alive.
They have all been diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare and aggressive childhood cancer that affects about 100 children in the UK each year.
They have been given treatment in the UK to help put the disease into remission, but the survival rate is extremely low if the cancer returns.
Their survival chances can be boosted by a vaccine only available in the USA, or a special combination of chemotherapy drugs available in Barcelona.
But it isn’t funded by the NHS and so these families are tirelessly seeking to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Kristen Huth, who runs the charity Mitchell’s Miracles, which provides grants to families with a child suffering from neuroblastoma, says:
“We shouldn’t be having to raise this money to source this treatment, it should be available over here in the UK...” AUDRINA HATTON-WRIGHT is five and lives in Duffield, Derbyshire, with mother Gemma Gould, 28, and dad Zach Hatton-wright, 30.They both gave up their jobs, Gemma as a trainee barrister, and Zach as a manager for Ladbrokes, to look after Audrina, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in May last year.
“A scan found a tumour between her kidney and spine, which was such a shock,” says Gemma. “It felt like our lives had been turned upside down. In just a few moments, Audrina had gone from an innocent healthy girl to a child with an aggressive cancer.
“She had chemotherapy and surgery to remove the tumour. She finished her treatment and was in remission, but we were told if she relapsed she only had a one-in-10 chance of survival. So we decided to raise the money for the vaccine in Newyork, which is costing £200,000, to prevent relapse.
“We have raised more than half the money so far and need the full amount by October. After she has had the vaccine, she will be able to go back to school and live a normal life, and you can’t put a price on that.” ARCHIE WILKS, three, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in January last year. He lives with parents Harriet, 29, Simon, 31, and his twin brother Henry, in Saffron Walden, Essex. He is currently having chemotherapy to try to shrink his tumours and the family is attempting to raise £200,000 to take Archie to the USA for the vaccine trial.
“Nothing could have prepared us for the devastating news that he had neuroblastoma,” says Harriet. “It had spread to his bones and bone marrow, so he had to start chemotherapy treatment straight away.
“Chemotherapy has been tough for him, as he developed sepsis during the treatment too.
“At the moment the tumours are stable, and he is having more chemotherapy now to try to shrink them.
“We want to raise £200,000 to take Archie to the USA to take part in a vaccine trial once his cancer is in remission.
“We want to keep fighting for Archie, and keep him together with Henry. They came into the world together, and we want them to be together always.”