Heartache for Ned’s family

A six-year-old’s journey to the other side of the world to be part of a life-saving cancer trial has hit heartache.

FLASHBACK: Emily Isham, with son Ned, at Blackmans Bay in April before their trip to Seattle for Ned’s cancer treatment. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

THEY are savouring every moment with their precious little boy, and praying for another lifeline.

A Tasmanian family’s journey to the other side of the world, to be part of a potentially lifesaving cancer trial, has hit heartache.

Six-year-old Ned Isham is in the United States being treated for leukaemia, but the cancer has progressed exponentially.

To add to the blow, Ned’s cancer cells have mutated in such a way that the treatment he is receiving has only a minimal chance of curing the advancing cancer.

“Short of a miracle, there is nothing more we can do for our darling Ned, and my heart aches and aches and groans and pleads for another lifeline. Just a little bit more hope,” his mum Dr Emily Isham has written in her blog.

Ned is in Seattle with his mum, dad Seth and three siblings. The family moved there from Tasmania in early May for a world-leading clinical trial at the Seattle Children’s Hospital.

The US treatment was made possible after an anonymous donation of just under $600,000. The large overseas donation, which came on Easter Saturday, followed a crowd-funding campaign.

But a scan last week revealed the cancer has spread, and changed.

Dr Isham, a Kingston GP, said the mutation in the leukaemic cells meant they were no longer expressing the right target for the treatment to be able to attack his cancer.

On May 17, Ned underwent a procedure where the US doctors “strained out” his T cells from the rest of his blood so they could be genetically engineered to kill the little boy’s own cancer cells.

But those modified T cells are less likely to work now that his cancer has changed.

Writing in her blog, Dr Isham says it is a “catastrophic blow”. She says the treatment was Ned’s “last option”, and now there is “only minimal chance of curing his rapidly-advancing cancer”.

Despite the diminished chances of success, little Ned underwent the T cell infusion on Thursday.

Dr Isham told the Sunday Tasmanian they would now wait for the outcome of tests before knowing whether they could bring Ned home to Tasmania in a couple of weeks.

“If he’s clinically stable enough in two weeks’ time, we can fly home,” she said.

“If not though, he probably won’t make it home, it all depends on how he’s tracking.”

Despite the uncertainty ahead, Dr Isham writes in her blog that she has handed the battle over to God.

“Though there is so much unknown right now, this we do know: God is sovereign over Ned’s cancer. The battle is His, and we are helpless in this”.

In the meantime, they are “trying to soak in every moment, every touch, kiss and hug, and entrench them deep in our souls’ memories”.

The blog can be found at: http://www.edwardisham.com/