Thanks for taking the time to visit Damian & Emily's JustGiving page. We are continuing to fundraise for Sam Shaw and Neuroblastoma Childrens Cancer Alliance.

Some of you may know about Sams Story already and I will provide an update further down, however for those who do not here it is:-

On the 4th January 2013 Christine and Carl Shaw’s beautiful little boy Sam was diagnosed with high risk neuroblastoma, a highly aggressive form of childhood cancer. Just 5 days later, Sam’s parents received the devastating news that their son’s cancer was classed as stage 4, meaning it had spread from the main tumour to Sam’s bones and bone marrow.  

The long term survival rate for children with high risk neuroblastoma remains at less than 40%, which is around half the average survival rate for childhood cancers. To give Sam the best chance of beating neuroblastoma for good, his oncologist at Manchester Children’s Hospital has recommended that Sam receives immunotherapy treatment. The most successful treatment uses the antibody ch14-18, and cytokines IL-2 and GM-CSF, trialled in America and proven by the Children’s Oncology Group to increase children’s chance of survival by 20%. This Immunotherapy treatment will help stimulate Sam’s immune system so that his own body should be able to recognise and attack the neuroblastoma if it was to return. This is the main worry with this deadly disease, where the relapse rates are high. 

The treatment we hope Sam will receive in the United States is not available in the same format in the UK, where anti-GD2 and IL2, or just anti-GD2 alone, are given as part of a randomised trial. The proposed treatment and associated costs of over £250,000 will not be funded by the NHS which is why Sam desperately needs your help.

UPDATE

Sam is currently taking part in pioneering treatment for neuroblastoma in Philadelphia in the United States.

Sam had been doing really well, then disaster struck... Sam had an accident!! He took a tumble on the final night of his first round of treatment. Sadly, Sam bumped his head and broke his arm. This meant that he had to have various X-rays and scans and underwent surgery to pin and set his arm.

The fantastic fundraising that went on to get Sam to Philadelphia has been a national news story and we can’t thank everyone enough. Unfortunately, the American healthcare system is very expensive and the original fundraising for Sam couldn’t have taken these types of accidents into account.

 

The additional medical costs have reached £30,000 and Sam now needs help from the amazing people who gave him the chance to undergo treatment in America.

This is a great charity and any monies raised not used by Sam will be directly passed from Sams Charity to the Neuroblastoma Childrens Cancer Alliance to help the next child who is diagnosed with this horrible form of cancer.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.