Help 3 yr old Isabella from Bramhall in her fight against cancer

16 Feb 2018

When ILoveBramhall received a call from Bramhall resident Victor, we felt compelled to help his 3 year old daughter Isabella who has terminal cancer.

Healthy, active and intelligent Isabella at three years old was diagnosed with DIPG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma) at Manchester Royal Infirmary.

DIPG is a tumour located in the pons area of the brain, where vital functions of the body including mobility, speech, eyesight, hearing, taste, and balance are located. As the tumour begins to grow, in time, Isabella will not be able to walk, swallow, move her arms, eat, talk and eventually breathe.

The expected survival period is between 9 and 12 months from diagnosis and if we do not act now, Isabella could only have 5 months left to live.

Isabella

Isabella has been fighting the tumour for 7 months after undergoing 30 sessions of radiotherapy and strong cycles of chemotherapy at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, United Kingdom. They are expecting Isabella to start progression soon and her health to deteriorate anytime, as the tumour becomes more aggressive and gathers greater malignant potential.

There is currently no proven cure for children with DIPG. Unlike many brain tumours, a DIPG tumour cannot be removed through surgery. Attempting surgical removal of a brain stem tumour, would likely cause severe neurological damage and could be fatal.

Victor with his daughter Isabella

There are only a few specialist clinics and hospitals that are carrying out experimental trials to try to increase the life expectancy of patients. Isabella’s consultants have told them to create good memories with her and make the most of the ‘honeymoon period’ whilst she is still alive.

Desperate for their daughter to have the best chance of life possible, they started to search for available treatment around the world.

What’s available out there, they are looking at the following four available options:

Intra-arterial (IA) chemotherapy and immunotherapy, delivered in Monterrey (Mexico), which consists of delivering an infusion of various drugs directly in the pons via arteria and combines with dendritic cell immunotherapy;
Immunotherapy in Cologne (Germany) at the IOZK, based on a vaccine created from the patient blood cells to stimulate the natural immunisation system against the tumour cells;
CED (Convention Enhanced Delivery) in London, United Kingdom, which involves implanting four catheters in the brain to deliver the chemotherapy drugs into the tumour, bypassing the blood-brain barrier; and
Clinical trials at Dana-Faber in Boston, USA, who analyse DNA sequences to search for abnormalities and biomarkers to target the chemotherapy with drugs.

Isabella’s mum Assunta

How you can support Isabella

While they are exploring and searching for any potential treatment globally, and having exhausted all options under the NHS, it appears that the Intra-arterial and immunotherapy, currently offered in Mexico, provides the longest life expectancy, compared to other treatment available elsewhere.

The treatment in Mexico is only available at Clinic Los Angeles (Angels’ Clinic) in Monterrey and has an estimated cost of £350,000. It’s an overwhelming amount of money to raise, but they are determined to give Isabella the best chance of survival in the hope that a breakthrough is made to defeat DIPG. Even if it gives her one extra day, it would have been worth it for them. Therefore, they are appealing for your help to raise the amount required to carry out the DIPG treatment for Isabella and cover the associated costs (e.g. accommodation, travel and maintenance). They never expected that we would experience the nightmare of having to make difficult choices over their young daughter’s life.

With your support, you will be giving Isabella the chance to continue being the happy, cheeky, cheerful and intelligent daughter she has always been.

Please donate to the Princes Isabella Appeal, to save Isabella’s life, maybe arrange a collection in your workplace too, anything you can do to help they would be truly grateful.