A mother will do anything she can to help save the life of her child.
Katharine, a dentist from Manchester, and her husband Issac are currently facing every parent's worst nightmare. Their only child, Tobias is currently fighting for his life.
Tobias, at almost 8 months old, is the most beautiful little boy and full of smiles. When you look closer however, you see a little boy who has spent most of his life in hospital. He is attached to a central line and feeding tube and has limited use of his right leg. Tobias is fighting a very rare aggressive form of cancer called infantile fibrosarcoma for the second time. He spends much of his days asleep, exhausted by aggressive chemotherapy treatments, yet remains the joy that keeps his parents fighting.
Katharine, Tobias' mother said,
"Tobias is my rainbow baby, all my dreams come true. He's so brave, uncomplaining and beautiful. When I cuddle him and he looks into my eyes my whole world is perfect. Nothing else matters as long as I have him in my life."
Tobias was diagnosed at just 8 weeks of age and has already undergone more treatments and procedures than most people do in a lifetime. Tobias has already undergone multiple courses of aggressive chemotherapies and major surgery too.
Despite the aggressive treatments used, devastatingly, three new tumours grew whilst he was still undergoing treatment. He is now undergoing much more intensive chemotherapy regime in the hope of treating the tumours, but his future is looking very unsure. In the UK, all children diagnosed with relapsed infantile fibrosarcoma (like Tobias) devastatingly, have not survived.
Should Tobias' cancer return again (as has happened in all children with relapsed infantile fibrosarcoma), there are no curative treatment options left available on the NHS or in the UK.
However there is a new, potentially ground-breaking antibody treatment being trialed that is showing remarkable results. It directly targets the gene fusion that causes Tobias' tumour type. However, this is not available or provided by the NHS. In the UK, funding is very limited for all childhood cancers, but especially for very rare tumours. Tobias and children like him need us to fight for this to change.
When Tobias' tumour returns (so far all similar children have relapsed), his only chance of survival rests on this trial. His parents are in the position of needing to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds to fund the chance of giving Tobias the future he so desperately deserves. Treatment is likely to cost in excess of £200,000 before even travel costs have been covered.
"Toby deserves a chance at life. Everyone who is lucky enough to meet him can't help but fall in love with his smile and infectious giggles. This ground-breaking immunotherapy will almost certainly be his best chance of a future and also help pave the way to help other children too."
Should you wish to contribute to find a future for Tobias, donate to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/treatment4toby
Follow Tobias' story: Treatment for Tobias