Helena was diagnosed in January 2021 with a rare childhood cancer. She had 4 rounds of chemo, spent 6 weeks in hospital and then had surgery to remove the tumour. She went back to school and got on with being 11. But cancer is relentless and she had a relapse. So instead of enjoying her first weeks of secondary school she was back at the Royal Marsden having more chemotherapy from September  2021. After another 6 rounds of chemo and another surgery, she was ‘in remission’. Sadly routine blood tests showed that the cancer was back and so the summer holidays this year were spent having 2 further rounds of chemo and a stem cell cell harvest.  Instead of starting Year 8 Helena has undergone ‘high dose chemo’ - 3 rounds of stronger chemo with worse side effects.  Helena is home again now recovering from the chemo. 

ICR is a leader in research and has a fund specifically for research into children’s cancer. Let’s try to stop other children going through what Helena and the other children she’s met in hospital have had to go through. Child cancer survivors have life long impacts of chemo to deal with. There will long term follow up and referrals to specialists. Helena’s hair will grow back but the side effects will last forever. Most chemo drugs were developed in the 1960s and 70s. Childhood cancer is not rare it is just that no-one thinks about it until it is a child they know. We remain hopeful for the future and would love you to support the ICR.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.