The mum of an Irish schoolgirl battling cancer has said the warning signs were “slow to materialise and difficult to tell apart from normal childhood illnesses”.
Nine-year-old Alice Hayes from Dublin was diagnosed with stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma, a rare, aggressive, and complex cancer of the nerve cells, with a high chance of relapse, and low survival rates, in April 2022, leaving her family lost for words.
Not wanting to waste any time, she started induction chemotherapy the next day.
In a post on a GoFundMe page set up to raise funds for her lifesaving treatment Alice’s parents, Norah and Dylan, said: “The warning signs were slow to materialise and difficult to tell apart from normal childhood illnesses.
“Alice was off-form, more tired than usual, but she never complained of any pain. Still, we knew something was wrong and brought her for preliminary testing. Nothing prepared us for what was to come.
“This was the beginning of what has been, and what will be, a long journey for Alice. She has faced it with amazing strength and bravery.”
Since her diagnosis, Alice has undergone six months of chemotherapy at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin.
The ‘bubbly’ and ‘bright’ nine-year-old has also bravely faced a surgical biopsy, had a central line surgically inserted, multiple bone marrow aspirates, stem cell harvesting, nuclear medicine scans, and countless injections.
And only this week underwent a “gruelling” eight-hour operation to remove the primary tumour from her adrenal gland.
In an update, Norah and Dylan said: “The surgery was highly complex but she got through it successfully & Alice is recovering well in ICU.”
The family hope to raise €550,000 to get Alice access to lifesaving cancer drugs in a clinical trial at the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Centre in New York.
To ensure Alice is enrolled in the next available trial group in 2023, the funds will have to be raised by Christmas 2022.
The trial will see Alice receive a vaccine that aims to trigger a response of the immune system against neuroblastoma.
If you would like to donate to Alice’s GoFundMe page, click here.
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