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This September we are taking part in a 5k Rough Runner (with obstacles from well known TV game shows like Gladiators, Total Wipeout and Ninja Warrior) to help raise money for 5 year old Jake Cohen who has neuroblastoma.

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High risk neuroblastoma is an aggressive and complex Cancer to treat. Jake’s family are raising funds to access possible further treatment in New York, not available on the NHS, to either keep the cancer from returning or clear the disease if his frontline treatment doesn't go to plan.

Please help give Jake the best chance of beating this devastating disease.

Please sponsor us to tackle the Rough Runner by clicking on the link below

To donate to the Cohen family fund directly and not to our page, please text JAKE followed by any whole amount up to £20 to 70085 (this will cost you your donation plus your standard network charge).

Jakes’ Story

Ben has known his parents Hannah and Adam for a long time and here is an insight to what they have been through and why we are doing this to raise money for him.

Jake, who is 5 years old, loves playing with his little sister Phoebe, Paw Patrol, Lego and the Incredibles. He bounces on the family's trampoline, enjoys scooting, dressing up and putting on shows. He started school last year and is loving it so far. Unfortunately, his attendance at school and all the things he loves to do is being affected due to treatment, or the risk of infection.

This is because Jake is battling Neuroblastoma. Which is a particularly aggressive childhood cancer. Almost 50% of children diagnosed will relapse at some point, and when that happens, less than one in ten survive.  

Jake’s family is raising funds in case he needs to access further treatment that is not available on the NHS, to either keep the cancer from returning or clear the disease if his frontline treatment doesn't go to plan.

Diagnosis

Jake's parents, Hannah and Adam, first noticed something wasn't right back in May 2017, when Jake was waking up in the night, moaning and crying. They took him to the FGOP a couple of times, but there was nothing they could find.  

Eventually, Jake deteriorated and ended up in Barnet Hospital A&E in July 2017. From there he was quickly moved to Great Ormond Street Hospital. This is where his condition was diagnosed. He had stage 4 high-risk Neuroblastoma with a tumour near his kidney and further disease spread through his bones and bone marrow.

"Even though Jake had not been well for some time, the diagnosis was so shocking and completely out of the blue, You just never imagine that you will be told that your child has cancer. Our world fell apart. It took us months to even start to process it", says Hannah and Adam.

His Treatment So Far

Initially, brave little Jake had eight rounds of chemotherapy. But his parents were told that he had not responded sufficiently to move on to the next stage of the treatment plan. So he had another two rounds of a different chemotherapy. But it was the same story; still making progress, but not to the level needed.

Jake is now classed as having refractive neuroblastoma, which means he has not responded sufficiently to standard frontline treatment. So he's had lots of additional chemo and three cycles of MIBG therapy, which involves spending three weeks in a lead-lined room in radioactive isolation at UCLH.

He's also spend seven weeks at Great Ormond Street Hospital over the summer for high-dose chemotherapy, during which he picked up a complication with his liver. It meant that his waistline expanded by over 12cm.

Jake has started immunotherapy which will take about 6 months, and he still has surgery and radiotherapy ahead.

"Watching your child going through intensive cancer treatment is horrific. Every drug Jake has received has potential long or short-term side effects and he has spent more time in hospital than most people do in their lifetime. However, he deals remarkably well with everything that is thrown at him and he has a happy positive outlook on life. We are lucky that he is no different to any other 5-year-old boy in that respect", say Hannah and Adam.