Family seek funds for cancer girl

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The parents of a seven-year-old girl from Surrey are trying to raise £300,000 so she can receive specialist treatment for a rare type of cancer.

Robyn Higgins has had chemotherapy to treat a tumour which spread from her pelvis into her bone marrow. She needed a stem-cell transplant in October.

Her family want to take her to a New York hospital offering supplementary treatment unavailable in the UK.

This must begin by January to raise her chance of survival, her mother said.

This is because the preventive antibody treatment in question is recommended within three months of the transplant, Lisa Higgins said.

In the meantime Robyn is receiving radiotherapy and five months of oral medication to try to keep the disease at bay.

'Horrific' experience

Robyn was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma in May.

Neuroblastoma spreads rapidly through the body, making it difficult to treat, and affects children, mainly under the age of 10.

Mrs Higgins, who lived in Ruislip in west London before moving to Frimley last year, said Robyn's life had completely changed following months of "gruelling" treatment in hospital.

"It's the hardest thing that we, and she, will hopefully ever have to go through," she added.

Robyn cannot walk at present owing to complications with her treatment, which has affected her nerves.

"She gets very angry and frustrated sometimes, and she gets very, very cross with me, because I'm the one who's with her during her treatment," Mrs Higgins said.

"She's so apologetic afterwards - but it's not her fault. It's a situation which has been thrust upon her."

The couple have raised more than £18,000 through online donations so far.

The preventive antibody treatment is relatively new and is offered by only one hospital, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York.

It has not been approved for use on the National Health Service.