Bibi's family are urgently fundraising to raise a further £200,000 so she can enrol on a promising clinical trial using engineered T cells called GD2 CART in Rome without delay with the hope of getting Bibi back into remission once again. This trial is currently not available on the NHS. The previous donations already showing on this page (£216k) have funded treatment in Spain and New York for Bibi.
Please note that the target of £416,000 reflects the sum of £216k previously raised and used for Bibi. The new and urgent target of £200,000 is the current total required.
View Bibi's urgent campaign page on the Solving Kids' Cancer UK website .
At two and a half, Bibi suddenly became very clingy and unhappy. Her parents thought it was just a phase. But she was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma, an aggressive childhood cancer that has a 40-50% chance of long-term survival.
Since being diagnosed in 2018, six-year-old Bibi has undergone extensive treatment both in the UK and in Spain. To date, all donations raised since the family launched their fundraising campaign with Solving Kids Cancer in 2019, have funded 8H9 (radioimmunotherapy) treatment, major surgery, hu3f8 antibody treatment and Proton Beam Therapy all in Spain with the aim to get Bibi into remission.
In 2021 scans showed the great news that Bibi was NEAD (No Evidence of Active Disease)and her family continued to fundraise so she could enrol on the Bivalent Vaccine clinical trial in New York with the aim to keep the cancer away for good.
After raising the funds needed to access the trial and scans showing Bibi was eligible, the family travelled to America to start the vaccine trial in March 2022. Sadly, in February 2023, whilst still enrolled on the vaccine trial, routine scans showed new disease in the lung and two small and faint spots in the cranium. She underwent major lung surgery and began chemotherapy again.
Bibis family are asking for your help to urgently fundraise £200,000 to access a promising clinical trial using engineered T cells called GD2 CART in Rome with the hope of getting Bibi back into remission once again. Individual families fundraising targets may differ. SKCs Individual Treatment Budgets are formulated totake into accountfamilies specific needs and requirements, both of which will contribute to the variance in targets for thisparticular trial and the target will be refined as Bibi gets closer to access.
Bibi had already become really clingy by the time she had stopped eating.
We thought she was just being picky, says Laura. When she had a fever for four weeks, we were told it was a recurring virus. When she refused to walk because her legs hurt, then we got really scared.
After weeks of trips to the doctors and A&E, they were called into a room at the Whittington Hospital and told the news that would turn their lives upside down. There was a lump and it was suspected neuroblastoma, a rare form of childhood cancer.
We went to Great Ormond Street Hospital the next day and started intensive chemotherapy within the week.
Bibi has spent so much of her short life in hospital, including birthdays and Christmas. Shes had hundreds of injections, countless general anaesthetics, endless chemotherapy drugs and lost all her amazing curly hair.
Sadly, before being able to complete frontline treatment, Bibis disease progressed.
After those scans showed disease progression in May 2019, the standardised frontline treatment plan was paused and she went on to complete 6 cycles of treatment on the BEACON immuno trial until May 2020, with scans showing stable disease post treatment.
The next treatment steps for Bibi were to enrol on the MiNivAN trial in the UK and then to undergo surgery to remove her original tumour. However due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the MiNivAN trial was closed to new patients and so Bibi continued to be treated with BEACON chemo, with the plan to wait until the trial reopened and for Bibi to have surgery after.
In June 2020, whilst a 2nd opinion was being sought by the family in regard to Bibis surgery, a spot in Bibis brain seen in a prior scan had increased in size whilst other disease was deemed inactive. After consultation, the family decided that 8h9 treatment (radio-immunotherapy treatment direct to the brain) at the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona in Spain was the best option for Bibi.
After having surgery on the brain spot, Bibi received craniospinal radiation before receiving 1 cycle/round of 8h9 treatment and then surgery to remove her original tumour. Bibi then went on to access 5 cycles of further immunotherapy antibody treatment (hu3f8).
Bibi completed 14 rounds of proton beam therapy, which is not yet available in the UK for neuroblastoma, at the Quiron Salud centre in Madrid then started an oral chemotherapy drug to tackle any potential leftover rogue cancer cells in order to be clinically ready to start the Bivalent Vaccine trial.
The above treatment in Spain was paid for from funds already raised from Bibis previous campaign.
Thanks to enormous public generosity and huge fundraising efforts in response to their previous campaign, Bibis family raised the funds needed for her to enrol on the Bivalent Vaccine clinical trial in New York. The family travelled to New York in March 2022.
Bibis MIBG scan in October showed a questionable lesion in one of her lungs which was suspected disease. The family travelled to Barcelona in November for Bibi to have surgery to remove the lesion right away and the surgery was successful.
Bibi continued the vaccine trial and received the sixth vaccine in December. A routine MIBG scan in February highlighted the same spot in the lung area. Surgery in Barcelona was scheduled for Bibi, and she had a section of her right lung removed which was identified as neuroblastoma. Further scans showed two small spots in the cranium. As Bibi had a confirmed relapse she was unable to continue on the vaccine trial in America.Doctors believe the vaccine trial has had some effect on disease progression, as the disease appeared to be slow growing which was unusual.
Since then, Bibi has been having chemotherapy to treat the relapse.
Beatrizs family are urgently fundraising to raise £200,000 so Bibi can enrol on a promising clinical trial using engineered T cells called GD2 CART in Rome with the hope of getting Bibi back into remission once again. This trial is currently not available on the NHS.
Having Solving Kids Cancer, a specialist neuroblastoma charity, to help us is comforting. They are an amazing charity who help families throughout treatment and beyond, and endlessly push for more research into this disease. Any money we dont use will be used for research - to help other children. And thats important to us.
There are many ways you can help Beatriz: by making a personal donation; holding a fundraising event; getting sponsored to take on a challenge.
To donate by text, send "BEATRIZ" 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.
If you'd like help supporting Beatriz's campaign, please get in touch with the fundraising team on 0207 284 0800 andfundraising@solvingkidscancer.org.uk
For Solving Kids' Cancer's terms and conditions around Journeys and Appeals, please visit https://www.solvingkidscancer.org.uk/terms-and-conditions
* Charities pay a small fee for our service. Find out how much it is and what we do for it.
