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This is Isla’s story:

Katherine & Simon sadly lost their beautiful  7 year old daughter Isla last year to DIPG. Isla's family are on a mission now to raise money to support research into DIPG and we are hoping to help them on their journey!

DIPG is a cancer which affects the brain. It has a 0% survival rate, only 10% of children survive 2 years following their diagnosis and less than 1% survive for 5 years.  The average survival is 9 months from diagnosis, this needs to change and with your help maybe we can make a difference for other children in the future.

Katherine and her family have teamed up with Abbie’s Army, an official charity to help fund a dedicated ‘Isla Smiler DIPG Trials Researcher’.

They need to raise £73,000 to cover this position for 2 years & with everyone's help are already well on their way to doing this! But the journey is not over yet........... 

Abbie’s Army has been supporting Professor Chris Jones’ laboratory for some time at the Institute of Cancer Research. They have been funding, processing and analysing DIPG samples from the UK BIOMEDE trial for DIPG- so far there have been 25 patients processed. 

However, they now need to do MORE to progress this research. 

About the event:

On Saturday the 13th of April, we’re having a Dog Walk & #islastones rock hunt at Sence Valley Forest Park. The walk will start at 10am at the main car park, and along the walk we will be hunting for #islastones, so find as many as you can. There will also be a raffle draw (tickets can be purchased before the day) to win some prizes for both humans & dogs while enjoying a slice of cake from the Cake sale or an Ice Cream from the Ice Cream van.

We would like to invite you to join us so we can help reach their goal. 

About #islastones:

In March Isla started to decorate stones as an activity to enjoy with her friends.  A friend brought some Sharpies and some stones around and they each decorated one and asked some friends to hide them nearby. Family asked them to post a photo for Isla so she could see where her stones had gone.  Isla's family set up the #islastones facebook page so she could see the stones.  Within weeks the group had grown beyond their expectations.  Isla absolutely loved seeing everyone's smiles when they posted photos of what stones they had found.  During this time Isla’s pain became more controlled and she was bravely hoisted out of bed into a chair.  This new found freedom allowed Isla and her family to leave the house and make some even more special memories and allowed her to join in with #Islastones, which brought her lots of joy. Every day Isla received beautiful gifts and stones from people who had joined the group and taken Isla into their hearts. Isla was interviewed on two occasions by the BBC, her dream was to become famous and with over 40,000 people at this point in her group she certainly felt it.  Her film can be viewed by clicking this link:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-44793144

Since launching #islastones stones have been hidden all around the world, including the Taj Mahal; New Zealand, North Pole, Mexico and a very special wooden stone at the antarctic.

Follow the journey at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2127122047314808/