Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have donated £10,000 each to support a young girl from Wrexham with terminal brain cancer. Aria Hodgkiss was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a very aggressive form of the disease, on her third birthday in May 2021.
As the tumour is located in the the four-year-old's brain stem, which is used to regulate balance, breathing, and heart rate, it cannot be removed. So her heartbroken family have tried to raise as much money as possible for a pioneering drug which has shown in trials to kill cancer cells with a specific genetic mutation in the tumour.
At present the only treatment available to her on the NHS is radiotherapy which will prolong her life by around six months. The typical life expectancy from diagnosis is between nine months and a year.
