Neuroblastoma
Thanks to donations of 270,000 euros: boy with cancer after vaccination on the mend
For many children with neuroblastoma, vaccination is the last hope (symbol picture)
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Five-year-old Liam Scott has cancer – a vaccination from the United States should save his life. The new therapy has worked, his parents say.
At the age of three, Liam Scott was diagnosed with neuroblastoma – a cancer of the nervous system that mainly affects young children. For years the little boy from England fought against the disease with his parents. Now a suitable therapy seems to have been found: According to the parents, the meanwhile five-year-old should be much better with an experimental vaccination in the USA.
As the English agency PA Media reports, the disease had come back again and again after previous treatments. The new vaccination, which is not yet available in Europe, is intended to prevent that. The family traveled to New York especially for this. The treatment seems to be working for Liam: “He has so much energy. His condition is improving day by day,” says his mother.
Family raises over £ 230,000 in donations
To make the treatment possible, the family had raised more than 230,000 British pounds – the equivalent of around 270,000 euros – in donations. Many people who had moved Liam’s fate contributed financially, the Spanish professional footballer Pepe Reina also shot 2000 pounds. For Liam’s mother, the fundraising was also a huge mental burden: “You feel so helpless when you talk about such sums,” she said. “All you can think of is your child, and you do everything to make them survive.”
For the time being, Liam’s chances of recovery seem to be good. With a special permit, the family was able to travel to the United States for treatment despite the Covid-19 travel restrictions. Liam is now a “normal boy”, explains his father, the family hopes that the disease does not return: “I know that everything can change again in a second.”
Neurblastoma: Parents put their hope in the vaccination
Neuroblastoma is the third most common type of cancer in children. It accounts for about seven to eight percent of childhood cancers. Vaccination, on the other hand, is currently only available at very few locations. There, the vaccine will be evaluated in clinical trials, explains the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center from New York on its website. The clinic has already vaccinated more than 250 children. This form of therapy is supposed to enable the immune system to build up a natural defense against cancer. Such a vaccine is also currently being researched in Germany.
For the families of the sick children, immunotherapy is associated with an enormous financial outlay, especially because of the travel. “All the parents of the children who have to undergo the same treatment as Liam are trying to come to the USA and get this vaccination there,” reports Liam Scott’s father. That is why the boy’s family is fighting for the vaccination to be available in their home country, the United Kingdom, as soon as possible.
Sources: “Evening Standard” / Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center / Funding Society for Childhood Cancer Neuroblastoma Research