Abbie Abbie & her brother Jamie Abbie – June 2006	Home	News	About Us	Fundraising
	Abbie’s Fund Inspired by Abbie Shaw Registered charity no. 1119273
	Abbie Elizabeth Shaw 1^st March 2001 – 11^th September 2006 In December 2002, we discovered that our 21 month old daughter Abbie was suffering from a rare cancer called Adrenal Neuroblastoma. After having a tumour removed from her abdomen we were hopeful that Abbie would make a full recovery, however in July 2003 we were devastated to discover that she had relapsed with the cancer spreading to her bones and bone marrow and a secondary tumour developing in her abdomen. Abbie’s cancer was also NMYC amplified which means that she had the most aggressive type. Abbie responded well to the heavyweight treatment that she underwent – intensive induction chemotherapy, high dose chemotherapy, stem cell transplant, radiotherapy and Retinoic acid and was declared free of disease in January 2004. In March 2005 Abbie suddenly started limping and was eventually diagnosed with a stress fracture in her left ankle. Sadly it failed to heal and subsequent investigations in June 2005 showed a relapse in her bone marrow. After several more rounds of chemotherapy and MIBG treatment with stem cell rescue in January 2006 we were hopeful that Abbie would go into remission, however a scan in April 2006 showed the cancer was back. Abbie had a few months of relatively good health but by July 2006 her condition began to rapidly deteriorate and our beautiful daughter died at home on September 11^th at 7.36am. See www.abbieshaw.me.uk for Abbie’s complete story. Abbie’s Fund Abbie’s Fund was set up by local mothers after Abbie relapsed in June 2005. To date Abbie’s Fund has raised over £150,000 to fund research into making Neuroblastoma survivable. Abbie’s Fund is a registered charity with the aim of making Neuroblastoma survivable and supporting those children already suffering from this horrendous childhood cancer. Claire Attard, founder & trustee of Abbie's Fund said: "We recently met with two of the world’s leading experts in this field at The Royal Marsden, who are still struggling to receive proper funding to carry on with further research. We felt privileged to sit in front of these guys who were so completely passionate, enthused and convinced about the research they have been carrying out and how positive they were going forward." "With the results they have achieved from the tests they have carried out over this period, they hope to be able to start some new trials on children with Neuroblastoma in the early part of next year. It may well take a couple of years or so before they have more conclusive results, but they are really optimistic that at the end of it we may well be close to having a ‘simple blood test’ for Neuroblastoma, and also a much better understanding of how the different drugs used are affecting different types of tumours. It would be amazing if between us all we could achieve that!" "We are looking to raise £30,000 per year to be able to fund this ongoing research, which I know will be a challenge but one which we hope to be able to meet." “We thank Abbie’s Fund for providing the support necessary to underpin these crucial studies in neuroblastoma. We are confident that this work will lead to improved testing for this disease, and to the deployment of targeted drugs that are safer and more effective for the treatment of MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma. We appreciate your continued support and interest in our work”. Dr Louis Chesler, Team Leader of the Neuroblastoma Drug Development Team, Institute of Cancer Research, UK Click here to download the latest Abbie's Fund Research Report from the Institute of Cancer Research Contact Rowbarns Cottage Green Dene East Horsley KT24 5RG UK e-mail info@abbiesfund.com UK tel +44 (0) 1483 282869 Registered Charity no. 1119273 Click here to download Imagine, a PowerPoint presentation promoting Abbie’s Fund Click here to download Abbie's Fund Logo Click here to download Abbie's Fund Graphic What is Neuroblastoma? Neuroblastoma is, after domestic accident, the second biggest killer and the most frequent cancer in children under five years of age Source: International Society of Paediatric Oncology European Neuroblastoma Research Network Neuroblastoma is an extremely aggressive childhood cancer of specialised nerve cells, called neural crest cells. These cells are involved in the development of the nervous system and other tissues. Most children who get this cancer are younger than five years old. In the majority the disease has spread by the time of diagnosis and despite intensive treatment and achieving remission many children subsequently relapse and die. It is one of the most difficult childhood cancers to treat and further research is needed to beat this disease giving children in the future the chance of survival. Information The following web sites provide good information about neuroblastoma:- http://www.royalmarsden.org.uk/RMH/cancer/paediatriccancers/neuroblastoma/ http://www.nsoc.co.uk