Teenager has to pay 70K for cancer treatment in NHS ‘blind spot’ or take offer of palliative care
A SCHOOLGIRL has been denied lifeline cancer therapy because NHS doctors say she’s ‘too old’ and ‘too young’.
Faith Shone, 16, has leukaemia, which was caused by the heavy doses of chemotherapy she received two years ago to treat a leg tumour.
Doctors say heavier doses of chemotherapy could cause her heart to fail, which means her only options are stem cell and CAR-T therapies as part of a trial.
But 16 and 17-year-olds are not eligible for any medical trials for any treatments for any illnesses – because they are neither classed as an adult nor a child.
If she was under the age of 16 or over 18, she would be able to have the trial, so her family now need to raise £70,000 to get the treatment privately.
Dad Tim, 43, said: “It is a race against the clock and, in many ways so unfair.
“If Faith were any younger, or 18 and over, we’d immediately be putting her through for a free trial.
“But due to this crazy anomaly of 16 and 17-year-olds not having them, we have got a fundraising emergency to contend with first.
“This blind spot is ridiculous and it must affect a lot of teenagers, given how many children have cancer these days.”
Faith, of Leigh, in Manchester, was 13 when she discovered a lump on her leg and tests discovered it was a rare sarcoma that required intensive chemotherapy.
She also had radiotherapy and an operation removing the tumour, which meant she was cancer-free.
The schoolgirl then started to feel exhausted and dizzy when she woke up and she also began bruising easier than normal.
Her family were told by doctors not to worry and she was eventually given some folate tablets, as her vitamin B9 levels were low.
A bone marrow sample was put in her spine and in April this year, she was diagnosed with leukaemia – which was caused by the intense chemotherapy she had aged 13.
Tim says that if doctors had first listened to the family’s concerns, then she could have had treatment on a medical trial as she was still 15.
He said: “We had been asking the consultant for months because something wasn’t right. She was bleeding and bruising.
“They didn’t believe this was what the symptoms were, so they didn’t investigate further.”
Doctors have offered her intensive chemotherapy, but there is only a 10 per cent chance that it would work and an 80 per cent chance it would make her worse.
‘She’s not got much time left’
They’ve also offered Faith, who will be studying fine art at college in September, palliative care but the family is still fundraising for the stem-cell therapy.
Tim said: “We went in last Friday.
“A consultant from London said they did not want to give Faith any more chemo because of the damage it would do to her immune system.”
He added: “I asked Faith what she wanted to do and she said that she didn’t want more chemo and end up bed-ridden and die.
“Better to have fun if she’s not got much time left.
“But we still have this chance of stem cell therapy which is where the fund-raising comes in.
“It is still massively frustrating though that this could all have been diagnosed and more easily dealt with months ago when Faith was still 15.”
New developments revolutionising cancer care
Here’s a look at the latest advancements:
1. Targeted therapies
These new treatments are designed to specifically attack cancer cells while sparing healthy ones. This means fewer side effects and better results.
2. CAR-T cell immunotherapy
This approach enhances the body’s immune system to recognise and attack cancer cells.
CAR-T cell therapy, a type of immunotherapy, involves modifying a patient’s T cells to better target cancer cells.
Immunotherapy has shown promising results in various cancers, including leukaemia and lymphoma.
3. Personalised medicine
Doctors can now use genetic information to tailor treatments just for you. This means choosing the best treatment based on your unique cancer.
5. Liquid biopsies
These are non-invasive tests that detect cancer-related genetic material (like DNA or RNA) in the blood.
Liquid biopsies can provide valuable information for early diagnosis, monitoring treatment response, and detecting relapses