Story
Jocelyn, affectionately known as Jossie to her family and friends, has been fighting high-risk neuroblastoma since November 2017.
Her parents, Stewart and Cassie, chose her name because it means ‘cheerful’. Jossie is a happy-go-lucky child, always smiling and full of enthusiasm and red-headed spirit, despite her chemotherapy, daily injections, regular blood transfusions and endless hospital visits.
Jossie faces many more months of intensive treatment including further cycles of chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy. The treatment Jossie has to endure will cause painful short term side effects and potentially, long term health implications. Despite such an aggressive treatment regime for children with high-risk neuroblastoma, for almost half of those who become cancer free, their cancer will come back.
Typically, Jossie would go on to receive immunotherapy but at the moment she may not get this on the NHS as part of her standard treatment. Beyond that, further clinical trials give hope in keeping the cancer away. This is why Jossie’s family are fundraising, so that if the best options for Jossie are not available on the NHS, they have the funds secured to access them in the UK or abroad. Stewart and Cassie say, “We want to do the very best for our daughter and know that the cost of funding treatment can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds, but as parents we simply can’t sit back and wait for a relapse to happen.
Through working with Solving Kids’ Cancer we are raising funds for Jossie’s potential life-saving treatment, and crucial research into this devastating childhood cancer.” Their lives have been completely turned upside down; their dreams and ambitions for the future put on hold, yet Stewart and Cassie say: “Jossie continues to show more courage and strength than any 4 year old should ever have to. Whilst her red hair is gradually falling out, her cheerfulness remains.”