04/09/2023
Welcome most of you know my gorgeous little cousin Freddie his currently fighting the biggest battle of his life!
In January 2023, Freddie’s dad, Matt took him to A&E presenting with abdominal, leg pain and lethargy. He was initially found to have a mild form of microcytic anemia and was subsequently discharged. His abdominal pain continued with poor appetite and weight loss.
In late Feb/early March 2023, an ultrasound scan confirmed a large mass in his abdomen to be neuroblastoma.
Neuroblastoma is an aggressive childhood cancer that affects around 100 children in the UK every year. Half of those diagnosed have high risk-disease which has one of the harshest and most intensive treatment courses of any cancer. Despite the chance of survival being 50/50, many children go on to have a relapse later on, with a 10% survival rate.
Freddie has completed initial frontline treatment in the UK consisting of eight rounds of chemotherapy, four of BIT chemo and stem cell harvesting. The next step in his treatment would be to give high dose chemotherapy which could result in fatal liver complications, secondary cancers and permanent heart or lung issues.
To achieve remission for Freddie without the added toxicity and risk of more chemotherapy for very little gain, GD2 Immunotherapy is now his only option followed by the vaccine. GD2 Immunotherapy is a pioneering new cancer treatment with a 90% survival rate that trains the body’s immune system to kill cancer cells before they become a problem.
This GoFundMe has been set up to help Freddie’s family raise at least £750,000 for him to be treated at SJD Barcelona Children’s hospital for their unparalleled expertise in childhood cancers offering the latest and most advanced treatments in GD2 Immunotherapy and Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York for the Bivalent vaccine . Once in remission, he will need the Bivalent vaccine, an experimental maintenance therapy for high-risk neuroblastoma not currently available on the NHS. The vaccine triggers the patient’s body to make its own antibodies to attack the cancer cells. It aims to stop neuroblastoma from returning.
Without these treatment options being readily available now, Freddie’s chance of survival will be reduced significantly with a high chance of relapse, even after remission – a chance we are not willing to take.
Freddie has made us all very proud of how well he is coping with everything he has been through in the past 6 months.
We will be hosting a number of fundraising events over the coming months in order to raise as much money for Freddie as we can.
Thanks for your support in advance.
