Sometimes support during a cancer journey comes from the most unexpected places. And when it’s from a celebrity, the surprise can feel a bit surreal.
"I woke up this morning to see my baby and I thought, 'I might as well check the page,'” Helen Robinson, a British mom who has a GoFundMe page for treatment for her daughter, Caitlyn, 5, a brain cancer survivor, told the U.K.’s LancsLive. “We were £10 away from £2,000. And then I checked it was more than £12,000 [approximately $15,000]; I just could not believe what I was seeing.”
Read MoreRobinson, who set a goal of £150,000, has had mostly $5, $10, and $50 donations that pushed her total close to $2,600. Malik’s donation, which was listed as 10,000 British pounds (the equivalent of some $13,000) brought the total money raised as of this posting to approximately $21,000.
Caitlyn’s Cancer Journey
On the GoFundMe page, Robinson said they are seeking a new treatment that is unavailable in the U.K, where they live; they need to go, she said, to Barcelona, Spain.
RELATED: 8-Year-Old Boy Who Beat Brain Cancer Wants to Be Like Batman
“Caitlin got diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma last year April 2019,” Robinson wrote, when she set up the account. “Since then she has undergone treatment several rounds of chemotherapy and mibg [sic] therapy none of them has worked I need to raise money to get my daughter abroad to Barcelona for life-saving treatment which is not available in the UK on NHS please please help save my daughter.”
Metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) is a compound that can be combined with radioactive iodine (I-131) to deliver targeted radiation therapy, according to the Dana-Farber
Cancer Institute.
RELATED VIDEO: SurvivorNet community member Jayne Wexler on the impact of a childhood cancer diagnosis on the whole family
Information About Childhood Neuroblastoma
Neuroblastoma accounts for about 7% to 10% of all pediatric cancers in the U.S. with about 800 new cases identified each year; it accounts for more than 50% of cancers diagnosed under the age of 1, according to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Neuroblastoma develops from nerve cells in the fetus, and often affects the small glands above the kidneys called adrenal glands, but can be found in other locations such as the abdomen, chest, neck or spine. The most common primary site is the abdomen. Some forms of this cancer will spontaneously disappear on their own, but for most children, treatment such as surgery and chemotherapy and/or radiation is required.
Signs of neuroblastoma vary depending on the size of the tumor and on whether the tumor has spread. If the child has a tumor in the abdomen, they may experience bellyaches, weight loss or a bigger abdomen. Some children only complain of general aches and pains.
For children with "low-risk disease," who are diagnosed under the age of one or who have only small, easily removable tumors, usually undergo a simple surgical procedure with careful follow up.
Children with what's called "Intermediate-risk disease," meaning the tumor is larger and has not spread, or is a baby whose cancer has spread, treatment usually includes a combination of surgery and chemotherapy.
About half of neuroblastoma patients have high-risk disease, either because the tumor has spread to other parts of the body or because test results show high-risk features. For children with this level of risk, treatment may include a combination of chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy including proton therapy, as well as high-dose chemotherapy followed by his or her own stem cell rescue. It may also include immunotherapy, which uses the body's own immune system to fight the disease.
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
