Mikey and I are joining Luke's dad Mark, Uncle Jonny, my brother Chris, and our family friend Rob cycling the Coast to Coast over two days on the 7th and 8th July. Luke needs all the help he can get battling this horrible illness, and is worth every turn of the peddles, please help if you can, and I promise I will try my best to keep up with 5 blokes on this challenge!!!

A little of Luke's story is below ❤️

Since his diagnosis in April 2017, Luke has undergone a grueling course of treatment in his battle against High Risk Neuroblastoma. His final course of treatment was to be immunotherapy, which began in January this year and was due to conclude in August. However an MIBG scan in April indicated that he had suffered a relapse. His family were told on April 27th that the scan showed a shadow on his hip, and a hotspot on his thigh. This news was devastating as it now means that likelihood of him being fully cured of cancer are now remote.

However, this is not the end of the journey. The immunotherapy ceased and Luke commenced chemotherapy straight away, and is part of a trial set to last up to 6 months. This trail involves 1 week of chemotherapy as an outpatient at RVI, followed by 2 rest weeks. After the 2nd cycle, he will have a further MIBG scan to ascertain the impact of the trial, at which point a decision will be made whether to continue, amend or cease the trail. There are further options available, and further treatment required should the trail be completed.

Today 7th of April the family were once again hit with another set back on their journey "We met with Luke’s consultant today to discuss the results from his MIBG scan yesterday. Unfortunately we didn’t get the news we were looking for, two more hotspots have presented in his other leg. This clearly indicates that this particular chemotherapy is ineffective, and so the decision has been made to stop it and try something else. He will be admitted to RVI on Monday to commence 5 days of ICE chemotherapy, which is similar to the high dose chemo he responded to previously. He has also been put forward for a brand new trial in London/Southampton which involves a combination of MIBG therapy and chemotherapy. "

#TeamLuke

The unknown element of the treatment he may require puts his family in a difficult situation, as certain options require significant funding.