£600k raised to help Aberdeenshire schoolgirl with cancer access treatment abroad

More than £600,000 has been raised to pay for a schoolgirl from Aberdeenshire who is battling leukaemia to undergo treatment offering a “final glimmer of hope” to her family.

The family of ten-year-old Sophia Wilson from Sauchen said their world “crumbled” when she was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia in July this year.

The schoolgirl faced her treatment with “incredible strength and courage” but was told she needed an urgent umbilical stem cell transplant.

The family were told her leukaemia levels had risen too high for the transplant to go ahead earlier this month – and that the only real option left for her in the UK was palliative care.

A specialised drug only available in America is said to be the “final glimmer of hope”, with funds raised going towards the cost of the drug, treatment, essential travel, and accommodation.

With the original fundraising goal now surpassed, Sophia has begun receiving the new treatment.

Sophia Wilson, who was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. GoFundMe

On Christmas Eve, her family posted a message of gratitude: “Due to the help of some amazing people, Doctors in the US, Europe and here in Aberdeen, together with each and every single person who donated, shared or helped in any way whatsoever, Sophia managed to start her treatment on December 19.

“We now have hope and cannot thank everyone enough.”

You can view the fundraiser for Sophia here.