I've had a few messages about how to donate to Vanessa and make sure the donation gets to her, so I've set up a page on JustGiving that will add to the 'Team Vanessa' pot. £150,000 has been raised so far, but she needs another £350,000. 

Many of you have helped me with my fundraising for Alopecia UK and Education for the Children over the past few years (thank you), so you know that I only ask for help in the charity department when its something I REALLY give a shit about. 

What's my connection? Vanessa is the niece of a dear old (for old, read old git!) friend of mine. Its important to me. 

I've a great feeling that with our help this girl will get exactly what she needs. If you can skip a coffee tomorrow, dodge the big issue seller, take a packed lunch to work, have one less beer, and instead shove a few quid in her direction then it will all add up. Appreciate you taking the time to read this. D x

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From Vanessa's parents' page:

In Feb 2009 our then 8 year old daughter Vanessa, was diagnosed with Stage 4 (High-Risk) Neuroblastoma, a very rare, aggressive and difficult to treat form of childhood cancer. Fewer than 100 children in the UK are diagnosed with neuroblastoma each year, most of which are below the age of 5 and generally have a better prognosis as the older the child is the worse the prognosis is.

 

Since Feb 09, Vanessa has undergone many different treatments at Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow, these include; 12 rounds of High Dose Chemotherapy, two 7 hour surgical operations, the removal of one of her kidneys, a stem cell transplant, Radiotherapy, Retinoic Acid treatment and Immunotherapy treatment……all of which was agonising to watch as parents never mind to have to endure as a child!

 

Having undergone all this difficult and often very painful treatment the fact remained that due to a high relapse rate the long term prognosis for Vanessa's survival remained very poor with less than a 40% survival rate. All the same, Vanessa finished her treatment at Yorkhill Hospital in Aug 2010 and was given the all clear.

 

In Dec 2011 after routine scans, Connie and I were given the devastating news that Vanessa had relapsed. She has many hotspots on the skull, neck, spine, leg & knees. The UK doctors have told us that this time round there is very little chance of survival; “much less than 10%” they said, as we do not have any relapse protocols in the UK. This is due to the Government not investing any money into relapse treatments for this disease. This is a very different story to the United States where there are many relapse protocols and taking her there will dramatically increase her chances of long term survival.

 

We now find ourselves in the position of urgently having to take Vanessa to the United States for relapse therapy treatment which the NHS will not fund. The treatment Vanessa requires is likely to involve Antibody Therapy and cost in excess of £500,000. Vanessa’s latest scan results will be used to determine which therapy is best and this is likely to happen at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.