My story

The photo above is of the beautiful Vanessa Riddle and my daughter Katie sharing a happy moment during their treatment in 2009. Vanessa and her sister Olivia were a huge support to Katie and Libby, and Vanessa was a real role model as she fought this horrible disease with unbelievable courage. Her Parents Connie and Chris were a great support to Neil and I, and through a horrendous situation we became great friends.

Unfortnuately just before Christmas the family were given the devastating news that Vanessa has relapsed and will now need to travel privately to the US for life saving treatment.

Myself and a group friends have decided to challenge ourselves with a 30 mile cycle around Millport on Saturday 10th March 2012, which is the equivelant of 3 laps. Please Please Please sponsor us and help contribute to this very important appeal. Vanessa needs your help.

Please see the below message from Vanessa's Mum and Dad

In Feb 2009 our then 8 year old daughter Vanessa, was diagnosed with Stage 4 (High-Risk) Neuroblastoma, a very rare, aggressive and difficult to treat form of childhood cancer. Fewer than 100 children in the UK are diagnosed with neuroblastoma each year, most of which are below the age of 5 and generally have a better prognosis as the older the child is the worse the prognosis is.

 Since Feb 09, Vanessa has undergone many different treatments at Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow, these include; 12 rounds of High Dose Chemotherapy, two 7 hour surgical operations, the removal of one of her kidneys, a stem cell transplant, Radiotherapy, Retinoic Acid treatment and Immunotherapy treatment……all of which was agonising to watch as parents never mind to have to endure as a child!

 Having undergone all this difficult and often very painful treatment the fact remained that due to a high relapse rate the long term prognosis for Vanessa's survival remained very poor with less than a 40% survival rate. All the same, Vanessa finished her treatment at Yorkhill Hospital in Aug 2010 and was given the all clear.

In Dec 2011 after routine scans, Connie and I were given the devastating news that Vanessa had relapsed. She has many hotspots on the skull, neck, spine, leg & knees. The UK doctors have told us that this time round there is very little chance of survival; “much less than 10%” they said, as we do not have any relapse protocols in the UK. This is due to the Government not investing any money into relapse treatments for this disease. This is a very different story to the United States where there are many relapse protocols and taking her there will dramatically increase her chances of long term survival.

 We now find ourselves in the position of urgently having to take Vanessa to the United States for relapse therapy treatment which the NHS will not fund. The treatment Vanessa requires is likely to involve Antibody Therapy and cost in excess of £500,000. Vanessa’s latest scan results will be used to determine which therapy is best and this is likely to happen at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

 Please help us to raise the funds in order to save Vanessa’s life.

 You can also donate by text message by texting VANY99 and your amount £1 -  £10 to 70070.

 Every single penny counts, no matter how little.

 Thank you for reading and donating

 Chris & Connie Riddle

My gallery 1

My Team

Team photo
Vanessa Riddle Appeal

My company

My charity

Neuroblastoma Children's Cancer Alliance

Neuroblastoma Children's Cancer Alliance

Charity Registration No. 1135601

We help children with neuroblastoma, a very aggressive childhood cancer, if they can't join UK trials or need a clinical treatment that is only available abroad. We help with treatment costs, support families and fund research.

Donations 424

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Well done, i hope it went ok. Shame Mrs McN couldn't do it. This is on her behalf.

Donation by Juliet Goss on 07/03/12

£15.00

+ £3.75 Gift Aid

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Good luck to Babs & Claire Love from Claire x

Donation by Claire Paton on 07/03/12

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Good Luck Louise & Tracy From Lindsay

Donation by William McClounie on 07/03/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Good luck Kim, hope the sun shines for you!!! Love Arlaine xxx

Donation by Arlaine Cosway on 07/03/12

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Good Luck Kim, love Dawn O'Connor xxx

Donation by Kim Agnew on 06/03/12

Donation by Mark Letham on 06/03/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

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Donation by Keith Miller on 06/03/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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good luck pam for saturday hope you reach your target

Donation by john mc dougall on 06/03/12

£5.00

Donation by lorraine pollock on 06/03/12

£5.00

+ £1.25 Gift Aid

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Hi Clare and Zoe, good luck for Saturday. Hope you reach your target. x

Donation by Kelly Robertson on 06/03/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

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Good luck :-) xx

Donation by Anne Cluney on 06/03/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

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Donation by Alan Boyce on 06/03/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

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Good Luck!

Donation by Ross McLarnon on 06/03/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

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Donation by IS on 06/03/12

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Good luck. Love Mike & Pam xxx

Donation by Mike Harvey on 06/03/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Best of luck! JM

Donation by Anonymous on 06/03/12

£5.00

+ £1.25 Gift Aid

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Good luck to all the ladies participating on Saturday :)

Donation by Sarah Thomson on 06/03/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

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Go Babsy......

Donation by moyra mcpherson on 06/03/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

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go for it girl - make sure you wear some well padded shorts! x

Donation by Mairi Mickel on 05/03/12

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Good luck girls, hope you've got your padded shorts looked out!

Donation by Bonnie Foster on 05/03/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

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Good luck to Claire and all taking part

Donation by Raymond on 05/03/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Good luck to you all, way to go Pam. Marilyn and Dad x

Donation by marilyn liu on 05/03/12

£30.00

+ £7.50 Gift Aid

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Good luck to you all.

Donation by Anonymous on 05/03/12

£40.00

+ £10.00 Gift Aid

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Good Luck and hope weather kind to you all on this worthy journey.

Donation by Nadine Duncan on 05/03/12

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Good luck Pauline Morrison and friends. Hope you all have a fun while raising money for such a worthy cause. Good luck.

Donation by Andrea McQuade on 05/03/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

Donation summary

  • * Online donations£18,399.29
  • Offline donations£962.00
  • Text donations£0.00
  • Total raised£19,361.29
  • Gift Aid£3,881.09

* Charities pay a small fee for our service. Find out how much it is and what we do for it.