Eden loves school, baking and, of course, playing. She has lots of friends, especially her big sister, Tia.
In April 2021, just a month after her 6th birthday and at the height of wave three of COVID-19, Eden was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma, a rare and aggressive childhood cancer that has a 40-50% chance of long-term survival at diagnosis.
A couple of weeks before her diagnosis, Eden had been complaining of pains in her legs, which her parents had put down to growing pains.
When Edens mum, Jen, contacted the GPs surgery, she was only offered a telephone appointment and the doctor agreed it was growing pains. After returning to school after the half-term break, Eden was sent home on two consecutive days drip-white and shivering, and her parents realised there was more to it than just the windows in school being open for ventilation.
Eden was taken to A&E where she was X-rayed and told to attend a paediatric orthopaedics appointment later that week. The doctor ordered urgent blood tests and then an MRI scan which was immediately followed by a CT scan. Her parents were then told the devastating news that Eden had cancer.
The day we got the news, our world fell apart. Our happy, beautiful, polite little girl was being eaten from the inside by this aggressive form of cancer, say parents Jen and Lee.
Eden and Jen were taken to Leeds to start treatment straight away while dad, Lee, stayed home to look after Tia. Further scans and tests showed that the cancer was located in seven places around Edens tiny body.
Eden started treatment within hours of being diagnosed. She started with 80 days of Rapid COJEC chemotherapy, during which, she needed several blood transfusions, bone marrow aspirates and stem-cell harvesting. Eden also tested positive for COVID-19, which resulted in treatment being delayed.
After scans and tests showed that she was not yet ready to move onto the next stage of the treatment plan, which was surgery, Eden had to endure 6 rounds of BIT chemotherapy which made her very sick.
Eden went on to complete surgery, high-dose chemotherapy, radiotherapy and finally immunotherapy and finished frontline treatment in November 2022. End of treatment scans showed she was no evidence of disease, which meant that she was eligible for the bivalent vaccine clinical trial that her parents were fundraising for and hoped she could access.
Incredibly, over £500,000 has been raised in support of Edens campaign, and the funds raised have enabled Edens family to fulfil their wishes of enrolling Eden on the bivalent vaccine clinical trial in New York with the aim of keeping the cancer away. This started in December 2022 after Eden completed her frontline treatment.
Edens campaign remains open in case she needs any potentially life-saving treatment in the future not available through the NHS.
There are manyways you can help Eden: by making a personal donation; by sharing and following her story on Facebook or Instagram, holding a fundraising event; getting sponsored to take on a challenge.
To donate by text, send EDENS followed by any whole amount up to £20 to 70085. This will cost your donation plus your standard network charge. It wont matter if you leave a space before the number, if you include a £ sign or whether you use upper or lower case.
You can make a donation via this page.
If you would like to help to support Edens campaign, please get in touch with the fundraising team on 0207 284 0800 andfundraising@solvingkidscancer.org.uk
Funds raised will go towards helping Eden and her family. If Eden no longer needs the funds or is in remission five years post the end of successful treatment, the funds will be used to support other children and families affected by neuroblastoma through our activities. For children with high-risk neuroblastoma, like Eden, the survival rate is much lower than other childhood cancers. Upon relapse, this rate reduces even further.
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