Ned Isham gets warm Seattle welcome on his quest for a cancer cure

A CITY on the other side of the world has opened its arms to a Tasmanian family in search of a cancer cure.

Emily Isham with son Ned, 5. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

A TASMANIAN family who travelled to the US so their young son could be part of a possibly lifesaving cancer trial has been welcomed with open arms by the Seattle community.

Ned Isham, 5, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia four years ago and he and his family have flown to Seattle to be involved in a Car-T cell therapy trial.

A Seattle local, who had never met the family before, heard about their story and helped secure a short-term rental just a few blocks from the hospital in Washington state.

She then crowd-sourced and strangers from across the area helped fill the house with furniture.

The Ishams are expected to be in Seattle for three or four months.

“Your story was on the news this morning, and I know everyone in Seattle and the surrounding area is ready to rally behind you and help in any way we can. Our Children’s Hospital here does amazing work,” a Seattle resident said on the family’s internet page.

The Isham family from Hobart has gone to Seattle in the US in search of treatment for son Ned’s rare form of cancer. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

Ned’s mum Emily Isham said her little boy was running out of medical options.

“There aren’t that many options after this for him. And you know, we have come to the other side of the world so we are hoping this one is successful,” Dr Isham said.

The trip was made possible by an anonymous overseas donor who donated almost $600,000.

It followed a crowd-funding campaign to help the family meet the costs of getting to the US.

Dr Isham said that the family could never have afforded the treatment without the generosity of not only the major donor, but many others.

Dr Isham and her husband Seth have four children. The family returned to their Tasmanian home only recently — having been forced to move to Melbourne last June so that Ned could receive a bone-marrow transplant from his three year old sister Eleanor.

Although a sibling transplant is considered “gold standard”, the family was told the devastating news last month that the procedure had failed.