Little Ned heads to US for life-saving cancer treatment
AFTER years of battling cancer, five-year-old Ned Isham and his family are now packing for what is hoped to be life-saving treatment in the US.
Tasmania
Don't miss out on the headlines from Tasmania. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THE donor remains unknown and the generosity remains hard to believe.
But real it is, and the Isham family is only a week away from heading overseas so little Ned can access a potentially lifesaving cancer trial.
The upcoming treatment in the US has been made possible because of an anonymous overseas donation of just under $600,000.
Ned’s mum Emily Isham said the family remained filled with “incredulity and gratitude”.
“We still don’t know the source of the donation,” she said.
The donation, which came on Easter Saturday, followed a crowd-funding campaign to help the family meet the costs of getting to the US and being part of the world-leading clinical trial at the Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Dr Isham said they could never have afforded the treatment without the generosity of not only the major donor, but many others.
“Such a massive burden has been lifted,” she said.
Dr Isham and her husband Seth Isham, who have four children, are now packing to leave for the US next Sunday.
The family returned to their Tasmanian home only recently — having been forced to move to Melbourne last June so Ned could receive a bone-marrow transplant from his sister Eleanor, aged three.
READ MORE: MUM’S HEART-WRENCHING ACCOUNT OF SON’S BATTLE
Although a sibling transplant is considered “gold standard”, the family was told the devastating news last month that it had failed to treat Ned’s acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
“This [Seattle trial] is our only real option left,” Dr Isham said.
Mr Isham said packing to leave Tasmania was difficult, because the family longed to stay home after living in a Melbourne apartment for the past 10 months. But he said the children, and Ned in particular, were coping well.
“We are learning a lot from Ned in terms of resilience,” Mr Isham said.
While they prepare for Seattle, Ned receives treatment from a continuous infusion contained in a backpack he wears constantly. Without the need to be hooked up to chemo through an IV pole in hospital, he is enjoying freedoms most kids take for granted.
Playing at Blackmans Bay beach on Friday, little Ned’s spirit belied his condition.
“Coming back home makes it harder to leave again,” Mr Isham said.
But he said Ned’s treatment in Seattle would hopefully take only three months.
“After that we will have regular monthly checks in Melbourne, but I am really looking forward to moving back home again.”
Without the generosity of others, the family said it would have needed to remortgage its home or access superannuation.
The family created a GoFundMe page late last month after learning of the bone marrow transplant failure, and the need to raise $680,000 to get Ned to Seattle for the trial.
Within a couple of days, almost 650 generous contributors managed to raise $83,000 through the GoFundMe page and hundreds more raised nearly $120,000 through the Rare Cancers Australia page.
And then came the sudden generosity of the anonymous overseas donor.
Dr Isham said she only knew the identity of the intermediary who was acting on behalf of the overseas donor, or donors.
She said the large donation would cover medical costs, while the other amounts would help them travel to Seattle and live there.
The family said any extra money raised through their campaign would be given to cancer research.
Dr Isham, who is keeping a blog about the family’s journey, finished her latest post with an enormous thank you.
“Despite the grim reason this funding is needed, what an extraordinary demonstration of generosity and love,” she writes.
The blog can be found at: www.edwardisham.com
anne.mather@news.com.au
White ready for tight federal race after quitting state parliament
Former Labor leader Rebecca white has quit state parliament to focus on her tilt at the seat of Lyons in the upcoming federal election.
Do not leave kids in cars, advocacy group warns
With sweltering weather hitting Tasmania, the RACT is reminding people of the dangers kids stuck in cars face. Here’s top tips to reduce the risk of accidentally leaving kids in hot cars.