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The devastated family of a young girl battling an aggressive and fast-growing cancer have launched a huge £300,000 fundraising appeal for treatment which could save her life.
Nine-year-old Aurora Pile-Gray, from Westgate, was diagnosed with stage 4 Burkitt Lymphoma in May .
The youngster has endured four gruelling cycles of chemotherapy with severe side effects and a search is on for a bone marrow donor .
In September, in what was a brief moment of elation, she was given the all-clear, but just two weeks later, her heartbroken mum Keisha and dad Jake were told the cancer had returned, and was more aggressive than ever.
“This has left us in a precarious position,” said Keisha, who also has a baby son Oscar and two-year-old daughter Ada-Ireland.
“The odds are now flipped and what was once the most curable form of cancer in children, is now one of the most notoriously hard to cure.
“All options hold very little hope of long-lasting remission and the following weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions.”
Aurora’s cancer has continued to grow as the family await more details on the effectiveness of new cell treatment therapy in the UK.
But with it proving not to have been a success in long-lasting remission for the five patients who have so far tried it, Keisha has her hopes set on treatment in America
“I have reached out to a few hospitals out there and have come across a promising new CAR-T cell therapy that has been successful in complete tumour regression in Burkitt Lymphoma studies, with 100% long-term survival rate,” she said.
“It’s currently under application with the FDA, but I feel like I found it for a reason.
“I need to feel like there is hope out there, and the CAR-T cell therapy they are suggesting here in the UK is not filling me with that.
“It’s not sitting right with me, and something in my gut is telling me it’s the wrong thing to do. My gut hasn’t been wrong yet, and it’s pushing me to explore America.
“I struggled to sleep last night, and I can’t help but feel that that’s where we are meant to be.”
Keisha says £300,000 sounds like an unachievable amount, especially amid the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“But let me put it into perspective - it takes 300,000 people to donate £1,” she said.
“It takes 30,000 people to donate £10 and it takes 3,000 people to donate £100.”
“Those around us have already done so much, and every penny we have in savings or donations is being used to fund Aurora’s treatment.
“All it takes is for her story to go viral, and to be seen by hundreds and thousands of people, and we would get there.
“All the odds are stacked against us, but I’m not going to give up on our daughter. Not now, or ever.”
The family has a consultation with City of Hope California to see if they can offer something.
The funds, if not able to be used to travel abroad for treatment, will be split between other childhood cancer fundraisers and Aurora’s savings.
