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Edwina's mum Beth

Edwina's Heartbreaking Fight Against Neuroblastoma

New research aims to find better treatments for childhood cancers like neuroblastoma and help reduce long-term side effects.

Edwina - Childhood Cancer

A week following her second birthday, Edwina was heartbreakingly diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a deadly childhood cancer.

Following her shocking diagnosis, Edwina endured 18 months of gruelling treatment to save her life.

She had numerous surgeries, six rounds of chemotherapy, two stem cell transplants, 20 days of targeted radiation, six rounds of immunotherapy and five rounds of retinoic acid treatment.

Like many children diagnosed with this devastating cancer, her treatment program involved an intensive and broad range of approaches to try and fight the deadly spread of cancer.

This is because there are no targeted therapy options for children under 5 diagnosed with neuroblastoma.

Sadly, she will live with the negative side effects for her whole life.

This is why The Hospital Research Foundation Group is proud to support a project led by Professor Yeesim Khew-Goodall and her team at the Centre for Cancer Biology to find better treatments for neuroblastoma.

Prof Khew-Goodall is using innovative stem cell modelling to gain a greater understanding of neuroblastoma, in order to identify and test new precision treatments for the disease.

More targeted therapies will be less toxic and reduce the life-long side effects that children like Edwina now experience.

  • She wears hearing aids for high frequency hearing loss caused by chemotherapy.
  • She has reduced lung function and major dental problems with her adult teeth which were developing at the time of her treatment.
  • She is also a higher risk for developing other types of cancer due to the high levels of chemotherapy and radiation she received.

We have to change this! And thanks to donations from our wonderful supporters, Prof Khew-Goodall and team can continue their work.

If you would like to support this incredible research and give hope to families like Edwina’s, donate today.

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