A bold ambition: 100% survival and kinder treatments

Tomorrow

In the 1800s, there were few treatments for childhood cancer. Despite dramatic improvements, in hard-to-treat cancers just five out of 10 children survive. Researchers at GOSH are developing the treatments of tomorrow.

Franks story Frank was born in January 2017. He was a healthy baby, weighing 9lbs. He was hardly ever ill, but things changed the day before his second birthday. Frankie was diagnosed with leukaemia.

“It was a shock. I felt like I had my legs taken out from under me. The news turned our world upside down,” mum Maris says. Frankie was taken straight to GOSH where he started chemotherapy.

After four weeks, Frank wasn’t responding to treatment. “We hoped that Frankie didn’t have the nasty type of the disease, but we had to prepare ourselves,” Maris says . “Even when the leukaemia spread to Frank’s brain, we still had hope.” “Frank was energetic and was known by everyone as always being very smiley. We called him our little monkey. The clock stopped for us when we were there with him at GOSH. We talked to him, played with him, played his favourite cartoons and favourite music. Every moment was precious. We tried so hard to stay strong for him until the very end.

“I want to do something for Frank and to build a legacy for him. I have a genuine interest in the etiology (the cause) of Frank’s condition. I know it was caused by a random gene mutation, but I still don’t understand why. It’s so difficult to get funding for rare cancers because there are so few cases. The last patient to have Frank’s specific type of T-ALL at GOSH was five years ago – that’s how rare it is. I hope my voice and Frank’s story can help get funding for research that will help us better understand T-ALL and how to treat it.”

Right: Frank (pictured with his parents), was treated for a rare type of T-ALL at GOSH.

The future The UK’s second NHS proton-beam therapy facility at University College London Hospital (UCLH), with children treated in partnership with GOSH. Due to open in 2021.