Raise awareness for our 4 year old Granddaughter
Hello,
I am writing introduce you to our precious four-year-old granddaughter Kayla who has been diagnosed with Stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma and lives in Norwich..
Our family has been totally devastated by this diagnosis so we as a family have teamed up with the charity Solving Kids’ Cancer and are hoping to raise £221,000 by November 2022 for further treatment in New York in the near future. In order that Kayla gets to receive this potentially life-saving treatment, we as her family are reliant on funding from a variety of sources, including businesses, trusts and grant-makers.
Kayla’s Story
Kayla is a very happy and lively four-year-old from Norwich. She loves Minnie Mouse, Frozen, Peppa Pig and all things pink! She adores her big brothers, Riley and Kory, and loves spending time with them.
In the weeks leading up to her diagnosis, Kayla had complained of pains in her leg and was struggling to put weight on it so was taken by her parents to A&E. After a few days and some swelling Kayla’s pain wasn’t getting any better so her parents took her back to the hospital for blood tests and an X-ray.
The following day the family were contacted by the doctor as her bloods had shown she had elevated infection levels. After being seen by multiple doctors, Kayla was admitted onto the children’s ward and taken for an MRI which identified she had malignancy in her bones. It was decided that the next step would be for Kayla to have a bone marrow aspirate. The family returned home for the weekend to try and celebrate her big brother’s birthday but were still fearful of what the results would be.
On Monday the family headed to Addenbrookes, hoping they would be able to return home the same day. Sadly, as they had feared the results were not good. They received the devastating news that their beautiful three-year-old daughter had cancer. On Wednesday 19th May it was confirmed that Kayla had stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma and she started aggressive frontline treatment straight away.
Kayla has been so brave throughout her months of treatment. Since her diagnosis, she has endured chemotherapy, surgery, high dose chemotherapy and stem cell retrieval.
Kayla has just finished her first round of 5 cycles of immunotherapy which is the final phase of frontline treatment which will last around 6 months.
Neuroblastoma
Neuroblastoma is hard to detect; more than half the time the cancer has already spread by the time it is diagnosed. The average age of diagnosis is just 19 months old and treatment regimes are gruelling.
Kayla has high-risk neuroblastoma, the most aggressive form of this childhood cancer, affecting around 50 children each year. Kayla’s future is uncertain – in almost 50% of children with high-risk neuroblastoma, the cancer returns. If it does, her chances of long-term survival drop to less than 10%.
Solving Kids’ Cancer, help families navigate the UK health system, as well as helping families learn more about clinical trials in the US. They support families in their fundraising and provide support for the practical and logistical problems that occur when a child has to access clinical trials outside of the UK.
Your Support
Given the urgent nature of this fundraising and the short time frame with which to raise funds, I would be so grateful for your support and am happy to provide additional information on how your support can benefit Kayla. We want to give her every chance we possibly can.
You can read more about Kayla’s Campaign and donate here: https://www.solvingkidscancer.org.uk/Kayla.
If anybody can share Kayla's poster or story to help us raise the awareness and the urgency of raising this phenomenal amount of money to get her to America, it would be very much appreciated. I will attach a poster for you all to see.
Thank you so much for reading this, Jackie