Family’s desperate to raise £100k so daughter can travel to America for cancer treatment

June 9, 2016

Erin Cross was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in 2012
Had chemotherapy and recovered but relapsed in March this year
Will now die without a bone transplant – but needs to be in remission first
Parents believe her last hope is to travel to US for therapy to kill cancer
For more information, visit www.gofundme.com/teamerincross

Madlen Davies for MailOnline

Published:
06:22 EST, 9 June 2016

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Updated:
09:43 EST, 9 June 2016

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A family faces a race against time to raise £100,000 so their daughter can go to the US for life-saving cancer treatment.

Five-year-old Erin Cross has battled acute lymphoblastic leukaemia for three years and has exhausted all other treatment options.

Her only chance of beating the disease is to have a bone transplant – but needs to be in remission first.

Her family believe her last hope is to go to the US for CAR T Cell therapy – a treatment which teachers the body’s immune cells to fight the disease.

But she would need to have the treatment – which costs £100,000 – within eight weeks or she will die – and the only place currently accepting patients onto trials is the US.

Her parents, Sarah and Antony, have set up a fundraising page which has already raise £63,370.

Sarah and Antony Cross face a race against time to raise thousands of pounds so their five-year-old daughter Erin can go to the US for life-saving cancer treatment

Erin has battled acute lymphoblastic leukaemia for three years and has exhausted all treatment options. Her doctors say her only hope is a bone marrow transplant – but she needs to be in remission first

Mrs Cross said: ‘We hoped and prayed that Erin would just need chemotherapy to beat the disease this time but the only way is a bone marrow transplant.

‘After talks with the team, treatment in America is our only option. Erin needs to receive CAR T Cells in eight weeks’ time otherwise we will lose her. Please help save our little girl.

‘It is a huge amount to raise in such a short time but we have to give Erin this chance.’

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Erin was first diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) – cancer of the white blood cells – in 2012 and began chemotherapy immediately.

She recovered, went back to school, and her parents were overjoyed to see her go from strength to strength.

To their horror, in March this year she relapsed – and doctors said 95 per cent of her bone marrow contained leukaemia cells.

Since, she has undergone months of intensive treatment at Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

Erin was first diagnosed in 2012 (left, pictured before falling ill) and underwent rounds of chemotherapy (right, in hospital). But in March this year, she relapsed and doctors now say chemotherapy alone can’t save her

Her family believes CAR T cell Therapy in the US could help her immune system beat the disease. The local community has rallied around Erin, and a fundraising page set up for her has already raised £63,370

But her distraught parents have been told that more chemotherapy won’t be enough to cure Erin – and she desperately needs a bone marrow transplant or she will die.

After discussing options with her doctors, they were told CAR T Cell therapy could help her get into remission.

CAR T Cell therapy is where immune cells are taken out of the body, re-engineered using stem cells, and injected back in.

This ‘reboots’ the immune system and teaches it to fight and kill the disease.

However, access to this treatment is limited in the UK – and

Mrs Cross told the Chester Chronicle: ‘There is only one centre in the UK running a trial at the moment which recruits just one child per month nationwide.

‘We feel we cannot wait to see if Erin will or will not have access to this trial so that’s why we’ve started started a campaign to raise funds for treatment abroad.

‘There are three centres in America that run paediatric CAR T Cell trials, so we are raising funds to increase the chances of Erin having access to this treatment if and when she needs it.’

Erin already beat the disease and went back to school last year. In March, she relapsed, and tests showed 95 per cent of her bone marrow contained leukaemia cells. Pictured with jockey Sir AP Mcoy and in hospital

Mrs Cross said: ‘Erin’s beautiful smile got us through some very difficult days and she has been an inspiration to everyone she met’. Erin is pictured in Alder Hey Hospital, Liverpool, when Prince Charles visited

Their local community has rallied behind them, and more than £60,000 has already been raised from social media and fundraising events.

Now, the parents are desperately trying to raise the rest of the money before it is too late.

Mrs Cross said: ‘At the moment we are in such a daze at how this has happened.

‘Erin’s beautiful smile got us through some very difficult days and she has been an inspiration to everyone she met.

‘We want to give her this chance and are so grateful to everyone who has supported us in raising this money so far.’

For more information, visit www.gofundme.com/teamerincross

ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKAEMIA – A CANCER COMMON IN CHILDREN AGED ONE TO FOUR YEARS OLD

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is a cancer of the white blood cells.

All white blood cells are made in the bone marrow.

There are two different types of white blood cells – lymphocytes and myeloid cells.

They work together to fight infection.

Normally, white blood cells develop, repair and reproduce in an orderly and controlled way.

But in leukaemia, the process gets out of control and the cells continue to divide in the bone marrow, but do not mature.

These immature dividing cells fill up the bone marrow and stop it from making healthy blood cells.

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is a cancer of the white blood cells. Normally, white blood cells develop, repair and reproduce in an orderly and controlled way. But in leukaemia, the process gets out of control and the cells continue to divide in the bone marrow, but do not mature. These immature dividing cells fill up the bone marrow and stop it from making healthy blood cells

As the leukaemia cells fail to mature, they cannot work properly to fight infections.

This leads to an increased risk of infection, and because the bone marrow cannot make enough healthy red blood cells and platelets, symptoms such as anaemia and bruising can occur.

There are four main types of leukaemia:

acute lymphoblastic
acute myeloid
chronic lymphocytic
chronic myeloid

Chronic forms of the disease tend to affect adults and are very rare in children.

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is specifically a cancer of the immature lymphocytes, called lymphoblasts or blast cells.

The causes of ALL are not yet known but studies have found identical twins and brothers and sister are at an increased risk of the disease.

Symptoms of ALL are similar to other forms of leukaemia, and include:

a child becoming lethargic and tired due to anaemia, caused by a lack of red blood cells
bruising
bleeding taking longer to stop, due to low levels of platelets, which help blood clot
some children suffer infections because of low levels of white blood cells
a child is likely to feel generally unwell
suffer aches and pains
swollen lymph glands

Source: Macmillan Cancer Support