GoFundMeA schoolgirl from Aberdeenshire battling cancer has become the first in the UK to receive a specialist leukaemia drug.
More than £600,000 has been raised to pay for treatment for ten-year-old Sophia Wilson from Sauchen, after she was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia in July last year.
Her family said Sophia has battled the illness with “incredible strength and courage”, but was told she needed an urgent umbilical stem cell transplant.
The family were told last year her leukaemia levels had risen too high for the transplant to go ahead, leaving them with the “final glimmer of hope” of a specialised drug called Revumenib.
GoFundMeFollowing conversations with doctors in the US, Germany, the Netherlands, and Ireland, Sophia was treated with the drug at the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital.
The family say they almost boarded a plane to America before being told the hospital could purchase the drug – the first in the UK to do so.
Revumenib is unlicensed in the UK, but licensed in Europe and the US.
Sophia then underwent a stem cell transplant on Thursday, March 12.
On the GoFundMe, her family said: “We still have a terrifying journey ahead as we wait to find out if those cells work their magic. If they don’t, our only option would then be treatment abroad and we pray it doesn’t come to that.
“We also wouldn’t be where we are without the love & support of our friends, family, the firms we both work for, charities and of course all the doctors and nurses at RACH, who have become extended family.
“They have gone above and beyond and we couldn’t ask anymore of such an amazing team.”
You can view the fundraiser for Sophia here.
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