Team Jessica

Carl Green, Craig Green, Paul Harrison, Dominic Blades, Chris Tickle, Andy Jones, Stuart Holland, Paul Woodward, Marc Dewhurst, Gaz Longworth, Barry Linley, Ben Whittle, Alistair Bennett, Stephen Hayton.

The Bike Ride

The lads will be taking on a 140 mile coast to coast bike ride over 3 days. They will be starting off in Whitehaven on the Irish Sea Coast, passing through the northern section of the Lake District, riding to the summit of Hartside pass then on to the outskirts of Newcastle where they will complete their ride in Tynemouth. It's not going to be easy!!

The Cause

Funding Neuro is a fundraising effort to open up a clinical trial to treat children with DIPG. They need £900,000 to start.

In Bristol a team lead by Professor Gill has been treating children with DIPG with a new method of direct drug delivery called Convection-Enhanced Delivery (CED). The technique has been found to be safe and has shown some promising signs that it is effective.

They aim to identify new drugs for the treatment of brainstem tumours in children using this new method of direct drug delivery into the brain.

This is the closest thing we have to finding a cure for DIPG in the world.

Jessica's Story

Our Jessica was a beautiful, confident and happy little girl who lived her life to the full and had lots of friends. Jessica liked to be the centre of attention. She enjoyed singing and dancing (especially to Lady Ga Ga), dressing up and loved everything to do with Disney Princess.

Life changed for Jessica and every one who knew her in March 2011 when she was only 3 years old. Jessica was diagnosed with a rare and inoperable brain tumour called Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG). We were told there was little treatment and her life expectancy was 9-12 months.

Jessica was started on steroids straight away to relieve some of the pressure on her brain and preparations began so she could start radiotherapy. She received 30 sessions in total over a period of 6 weeks. By the end of her treatment Jessica's initial symptoms had improved and we were over the moon to hear that the tumour had reduced to half the size.

Over the next 2 and a half years Jessica went on to lead a normal happy life. She started school and met her new baby sister. We were lucky enough to go on some very memorable holidays together and we cherished every single day we had together.

In October 2013 we noticed that something wasn't quite right with Jess so she was referred for an MRI and that's when our world came crashing down. The tumour had started to grow again...this time more aggressively.

Jessica began chemotherapy treatment. We knew it wasn't a cure but we hoped it would give us more quality time together. The next few months were like being on a roller coaster. We had many over night stays in hospital. Jessica suffered with mouth ulcers, hair loss and needed numerous transfusions but she never complained. We came close to loosing her a couple of times but she came back fighting and proved the doctors wrong time and time again.

By the end of March 2014 Jessica could no longer walk , talk, swallow or move any part of her body. The only way she could communicate was with her eyes. She was fed by an NG tube and she didn't have any quality of life. The cruel thing was that Jessica knew exactly what was happening to her little body. This horrendous disease takes away your ability to do everything you take for granted but leaves you with your mind. I know Jessica was scared despite our best efforts to comfort her and that is something we now have to live with. Jessica developed a chest infection and the decision was made to go to Derian House Children's Hospice.

Jessica passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on the 1st April 2014 aged only 6 years old.

This debilitating disease robbed her of everything she loved to do and all of her dreams.

Jessica has become one of the 'long term survivors' of DIPG. She fought the evil disease until her last breath and we are so very proud of her. This is why we have vowed to continue Jessica's fight against brain tumours.

It is difficult to think that if more money had been given to this area of research our little girl may still be here today...Please help us to reach our goal.

Any donation is welcome and greatly appreciated.

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