Arianna is a beautiful, funny and kind-hearted seven-year-old, who loves dressing up in princess and superhero costumes! She is the kindest little girl; so thoughtful and considerate of others. She is the one who will always stop and help an injured friend or cuddle a crying sister. She has a heart of gold and loves playing with her three younger sisters, Mya, Zara and Raya.
In November 2021, Arianna was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma, a rare and aggressive childhood cancer that has a 40-50% chance of long-term survival at diagnosis.
Arianna’s parents, Chris and Abigail are asking for your help to raise £300,000 for Arianna to enrol on the bivalent vaccine clinical trial in New York, which they hope will give her the best shot of keeping her cancer away. Arianna needs to access this treatment without delay once she completes frontline treatment in October 2023.
In July 2021 Arianna started to experience slight upper back pain. At the time it was put down to having a new bed. The pain disappeared for a short time but in mid-November Arianna's symptoms worsened and the pain moved to her lower back.
After going back and forth to the GP and A&E a number of times; including 3 times in just one day, on the 19th of November, the family were devastated when doctors discovered a tumour on her kidney.
On the 26th of November, Arianna was officially diagnosed with stage 4, high-risk neuroblastoma. Her parents were told the shocking news that her cancer had spread to multiple bones and her bone marrow.
Arianna is currently undergoing an aggressive treatment plan at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Since Ariannas frontline treatment began, she has spent weeks at a time apart from her adored siblings which have been extremely difficult on all the family.
Arianna started frontline treatment straight away after diagnosis and MIBG scans in February 2022 showed that her disease has reduced significantly after induction chemotherapy. Her SIOPEN score (which represents the extent of disease present in the body) was 34 at diagnosis and had reduced to 21, however, she had not cleared enough disease to move onto the next stage of frontline treatment. She went on to have BIT chemotherapy to try to clear the disease further.
In June 2022, Arianna was accepted onto the MiNivAn clinical trial at the University Hospital at Southampton. This therapy aims to improve the outcomes for children with relapsed or refractory neuroblastoma by combining targeted radiotherapy (I-131 MIBG) with the antibodies anti-GD2 (ch14.18/CHO) and anti-PD1 (Nivolumab). Arianna had several side effects whilst enrolled on this trial including fevers, sickness, fluid retention, increased heart rate and rashes. Routine scans in October showed that the only remaining spot of disease was Ariannas main tumour which meant they were discharged from the trial in Southampton and Arianna was able to continue with the standard frontline treatment protocol at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
She completed high-dose chemotherapy in December 2022 and endured a 6-hour long surgery in January to remove her main tumour which was successful. Arianna has completed radiotherapy and has started immunotherapy which will be the final stage of frontline treatment.
"Arianna is so strong and she continues to laugh and smile, taking everything in her stride. Her love of superhero costumes especially her Wonder Woman outfit has given her the strength and confidence on the days when this has been incredibly scary. She has been nicknamed the real life Wonder Woman by her supporters," say parents Chris and Abigail.
Arianna’s parents, Chris and Abigail are asking for your help to raise £300,000 for Arianna to enrol on the bivalent vaccine clinical trial in New York, which they hope will give her the best shot of keeping her cancer away. Arianna needs to access this treatment without delay once she completes frontline treatment in October 2023.
"We have been incredibly overwhelmed with the support we have received for Arianna. On the darkest days it has been a blessing that we have so many people behind us," say Chris and Abigail.
There are many ways you can help Arianna: by making a personal donation; by sharing and following her story on Facebook or Instagram , holding a fundraising event; getting sponsored to take on a challenge.
To donate by text, send ARIANNA followed by any whole amount up to £20 to 70085. This will cost your donation plus your standard network charge. It wont matter if you leave a space before the number, if you include a £ sign or whether you use upper or lower case.
You can make a donation via this page.
If you would like to help to support Arianna's campaign, please get in touch with the fundraising team on 0207 284 0800 andfundraising@solvingkidscancer.org.uk
Funds raised will go towards helping Adrianna and her family. If Arianna no longer needs the funds or is in remission five years post the end of successful treatment, the funds will be used to support other children and families affected by neuroblastoma through our activities. For children with high-risk neuroblastoma, like Arianna, the survival rate is much lower than other childhood cancers. Upon relapse, this rate reduces even further.
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