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Great Ormond Street Hospital will be familiar to many for the fantastic work it does treating sick children. Recently, the daughter of one of our good friends has been attending Great Ormond Street for treatment of a life-threatening disease. Her parents, JJ & Mich, explain her story...
"Jessica is 8 years old and was diagnosed in February 2009 with a very rare condition called Aplastic Anaemia (bone marrow failure). As in Jessica's case, the cause is very rarely known. It can affect some or all of the blood making cells in your marrow. Unfortunately, Jess has Very Severe Aplastic Anaemia (VSAA) and has been kept alive with regular blood and platelet transfusions. As her white cells and neutrophils (some of the infection fighting parts) are so low, she is at constant risk of developing life threatening infections. It was hoped that a gruelling week-long course of immuno supressent therapy would kick start her system again. When this did not work, it was repeated 5 months later. Sadly, there was still no response and Jess remained vulnerable and totally dependant on transfusions. The only option left is a bone marrow transplant, which is due to be carried out in June of this year. This is a highly risky procedure, which is further complicated by the fact that Jess does not have an exact match donor, despite the fact that there are over 12 million people on the international registers. The transplant will be proceeded by 8 days of intensive chemotherapy and also radiotherapy (and obviously all of the side effects that go with these treatments). The cocktail of drugs that will then follow is far too long to mention (and spell) but needless to say they all have their own potential side effects (both long and short term). Jess will be in Great Ormond Street Hospital for 6-12 weeks, for most of the time in strict isolation.
In the long term, Jess will have around a 70% chance of a full recovery, although she may still have some minor lifelong complications as a result of the treatment. There is a 10-20% chance that she will have major long term complications and a startling, unthinkable 10-20% chance that she will not make it through the transplant.
Visiting GOSH is a most humbling experience. The Doctors and Nurses that we have come into contact with really are in a class of their own. The pioneering work and research that they do there is used and respected all over the world and is why it is a 'Centre of Excellence' in its field. Please help us to help GOSH and the amazingly brave and beautiful children that they treat there.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this."
As a group of friends we are aiming to do something positive on behalf of Jess and raise money to support the work carried out by this amazing hospital, specifically the Blood and Marrow Unit. We would like to think of ourselves as fit, but this is far from the truth, so attempting to cycle the North to South Devon Coast, a distance of 100 miles, over 3 days in September will be quite a challenge. Please sponsor us!!
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 and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep and donate now. And if you still want to help Jess and others like her, why not offer to give blood and/or sign up for the bone marrow register. Only 4% of us give blood for the other 96% !!
