You can help researchers do better for kids with leukaemia like Roxy
2023-05-05
In just five hours, four-year-old Roxy went from a routine visit to the dentist to being diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). 18 months on, and with Roxy on the road to recovery, mum Bec tells their story and just how important your gifts are in helping other kids like Roxy.
Bec, from their family home in Newcastle, NSW, explains:
My husband and I had no idea Roxy had cancer to start with. She had what looked like an abscess on her gum.
I booked her into the dentist, and when we were there, he didn’t say much but he knew what it was. So, he called the hospital and sent us straight over there – he was really great and acted so quickly.
At this point, I’m thinking ‘oh no, worst mum in the world! We’re going to have to get the tooth pulled!’ but within five hours of first arriving at the dentist, we found out it was actually leukaemia.
This was all during the height of COVID in 2021, so only one family member could be there. My husband couldn’t come and be with us… that was the hardest part. I had to stand there by myself and tell my kids on the phone, tell my parents, and tell my husband our little one has cancer.
Since her diagnosis, Roxy has undergone regular treatment but has responded well to her therapies, meaning that now she is on maintenance chemotherapy and, hopefully, on the road to a full recovery. Despite the intensity of her treatment, Roxy’s happy-go-lucky personality has always shone through, as Bec says:
I know I would say this because I’m her mum, but she really is just a dead set hoot. She’s always making you laugh and has just been smiles and thumbs up throughout her entire treatment.
Some of those medicines are grim too, let alone how bad they can make her feel. One of them is this big, thick, gluey, pink medicine. So, I said to her, ‘Look, this is the best option, otherwise, you’ll end up having to have one of the tubes You won’t be able to do as much’ – because we’re very outdoorsy, beachy, bush people – so she kept working hard and she never needed the tube. The way she’s dealt with it all makes me so proud, she’s just amazing.
Roxy’s treatments only exist because of funding kindly given by people like you to support kids’ cancer research. As little as 50 years ago, only a quarter of kids survived acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, but thanks to ongoing research into better treatments, it now has one of the highest cure rates of any cancer.
Despite the survival rate of ALL now being over 80%, and the overall childhood cancer survival rate being 86%, the need for funding to continue vital research is all too urgent. Improvements are needed in children’s cancer therapies to not only ensure that all children survive cancer but to also eradicate the harmful and often lifelong side effects that occur in almost all survivors. Bec explains one of the main concerns for Roxy after her treatment:
I remember one of her doctors talking about infertility as a side effect and potentially needing to freeze her eggs – that’s pretty far out, how do you even begin having that conversation with a four-year-old?
No four-year-old should be worried about the ability to have kids, let alone dying. Even though she’s way off having her own kids I’m always hoping that she does actually get the chance.
One way your donations are helping create better treatments for kids like Roxy is by helping to fund research projects like that of Associate Professor (A/P) Rishi Kotecha and his team.
A/P Kotecha is currently carrying out an exciting five-year clinical trial across multiple medical institutions. The trial, called Interfant-21, stands to revolutionise the standard treatment for children, like Roxy, who have ALL.
Their trial will test various treatment strategies, as well as a new drug that has had promising early results. Clinical trials like this one not only allow researchers to make valuable discoveries but also allow real kids with cancer to access the very newest treatments. By simply being enrolled on a trial, kids statistically have a higher chance of survival than those who aren’t.
Ultimately, A/P Kotecha’s project aims to improve outcomes for kids with ALL by identifying the best and most effective treatment options. In the future, kids with ALL will have access to a new and improved standard treatment option for the disease.
Your support today is vital in helping support pioneering research trials such as the Interfant-21 project. By making a gift, you could help ensure future trials have the resources they need to develop more effective treatments with fewer negative side-effects for kids like Roxy.
Thank you for everything you do to help support vital kids’ cancer research. The survival of kids like Roxy, now and in the future, is only possible because generous people like you are helping researchers develop better treatments. If you would like to make a gift today to support further research, please click the link below.