AN ANNONYMOUS DONATION provided a £20,000 boost to the appeal to send a Moray toddler to the United States for potentially life-saving treatment.
Gail Paterson launched an appeal that aimed to raise the £100,000 required by June to send her three-year-old daughter Eileidh for a course of treatment that is not available anywhere else.
The appeal for Eileidh has received an incredible response from throughout the north east and beyond and saw the fund reach over £70,000 in just a month – now that has been boosted further by the news that the Neuroblastoma Children’s Cancer Alliance UK (NCCA UK) had received £20,000 from an anonymous donor.
“We would like to say a massive heartfelt thank you on behalf of Eileidh’s family,” a statement on the Eileidh’s Journey Facebook Page said on Wednesday.
It added: “They and all the team at the NCCA UK thank you for your very kind and generous donation of £20,000 whoever you may be.”
Thousands of individual and group donations have pushed the appeal very close to its target with a number of fundraising events still being organised from Aberdeen to Inverness on behalf of the Forres toddler.
At the end of this month, Eileidh’s antibody treatment will come to an end – and if final scans show no evidence of disease it will mean the end of her current treatment path in the UK.
The appeal was launched as Eileidh’s family seek to take her on a clinical trial in the US where she’ll receive an experimental drug which is believed to reduce the risk of relapse.
It is a treatment that has been approved by Eileidh’s UK oncologists with a similar drug trial, funded by the NCCA UK, will be open in this country next year. Any funds raised above Eileidh’s requirements will be used by the NCCA UK.
Provided all funding is in place Eileidh will receive the treatment in the United States in July.
Details of the efforts being put in by individuals and groups are being posted on the Eileidh’s Journey Facebook Page while individuals or groups who wish to donate directly can do so by sending a texting EPAT88 to 70070 with the amount between £1 and £10 they wish to donate.
Donations can also be made online via the Eiledih’s Journey Just Giving website