Tasmanian Ned Isham and family returns to Australia after cancer trial

A SIX-YEAR-OLD Tasmanian boy has returned home from cancer treatment in the US — but the “race against time” continues.

A TASMANIAN family has returned to Australia after travelling to the other side of the globe so their little boy could be part of a world-leading cancer trial.

The Isham family, from Kingston, flew into Melbourne today following a mixed result from what was hoped to be lifesaving treatment in the United States.

Six-year-old Ned Isham was being treated in Seattle for leukaemia, but his cancer progressed exponentially in the two months he was there.

His mum Dr Emily Isham said the family was now in a “race against time” as they try to stop the insidious disease.

MORE

NED GETS WARM SEATTLE WELCOME

SAVIOUR LOCK IN LIFELINE FOR LITTLE NED

HEARTACHE FOR NED’S FAMILY

While they had hoped to come home to Tasmania, they have had to cancel their connecting flights to Hobart to immediately prepare Ned for a bone-marrow transplant.

“We will hopefully get him into remission before going into another bone marrow transplant — this time from an unrelated donor,” said Dr Isham, who is a GP.

Ned’s treatment in Seattle followed his first bone marrow transplant in Melbourne last June, using marrow from his three-year-old sister Eleanor.

Although a sibling transplant is considered “gold standard”, the treatment failed to treat Ned’s acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

The Isham family — little Ned, Lucy, mum Emily with baby Gilbert, and dad Seth with Eleanor — on their way back to Australia after Ned had what is hoped to be lifesaving cancer treatment in Seattle.

Ned’s inclusion in the Seattle trial was made possible after an anonymous donation of just under $600,000. The large overseas donation, which came on Easter Saturday this year, followed a crowd-funding campaign.

But during the trial Ned’s cancer spread, and changed. This meant the leukaemic cells were no longer expressing the right target for the treatment to be able to attack them.

Writing in her blog, Dr Isham said the change was a “devastating blow” — as it was hoped the treatment would be the life saver Ned needed.

Dr Isham said the most recent bone marrow results were not what the family had hoped for, as the disease had still multiplied.

“The treatment in Seattle ‘half’ worked,” Dr Isham said.

READ MORE: THE ROAD TO SEATTLE

Fortunately his spinal fluid is clear of cancer cells, allowing him to try one more immunotherapy treatment in Melbourne in preparation for the bone marrow transplant.

Little Ned Isham with Mum Emily, on their way back to Australia from Seattle.

The family, including dad Seth and Ned’s three siblings, moved to Seattle in May to be part of the world-leading clinical trial at the Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Despite the “rollercoaster journey”, 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”.