Family's desperate plea for help as daughter needs last-chance cancer treatment

06 March 2024 , 10:20

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Sophie Walker has been battling cancer for nearly seven years (Image: Edinburgh Live)

The family of a teenage who's been battling cancer for almost seven years are looking for treatment outside the UK - as they've run out of options in this country.

Sophie Walker, from Edinburgh, was diagnosed with Wilms tumour in 2017 after she visited the doctors thinking she had a stomach bug. Despite having been given the all-clear several times over the past few years, her cancer returned each time. Now her family are feeling hopeless as all possibilities for clinical trials have been ruled out and there's nothing else the NHS can offer. Sophie's parents, Jamie and Rebecca, who have 10 kids, have been fundraising for years hoping to find a cure for their daughter.

Although they've managed to raise roughly £70,000, most of this money has gone on Sophie's treatment, consultations and supplements. Recently they travelled to Germany so Sophie could see the well-known radiologist Professor Thomas Vogl. She was given transarterial chemoembolization treatment to stop the tumour from getting blood.

Now, they're waiting to find out if the procedure worked, before they plan another trip towards the end of March. Jamie told Edinburgh Live: "Sophie has a tumour which has grown into her spinal column and it has progressed so it is desperate times really. She doesn't have any symptoms but they found it during a routine cancer scan.

The family recently drove from Edinburgh to Germany so Sophie could undergo treatment (Edinburgh Live)

"We decided to see Professor Vogl in Germany as he does scans then goes into the groin and puts the chemotherapy directly into the tumour. She has had one of those procedures carried out but it is a horrible situation as she is so well at the moment and there's nothing else the NHS can do."

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"To look at her she looks great but when her oncologist saw the tumour on her spine they said there is nothing more that can be done but in our mind we're not giving up on her." Jamie and Rebecca drove the family over to Germany for Sophie's appointment last month and are hoping the results are positive when they repeat the trip in a few weeks time.

Jamie said: "The doctor couldn't say if it was positive after the first treatment. He only treated the one on her back but we just couldn't let that grow with the risk of her being paralysed. Hopefully when we go back for the follow up scan then we can find out how much it has shrunk by following the first round. Since finding out about the tumour in her back she has stopped driving as she's worried she could suddenly lose control of her legs."

Sophie after her treatment in Germany (Edinburgh Live)

Jamie and Rebecca are also exploring options in the US and have sent all of Sophie's clinical information to Williams Cancer Institute, based in Beverly Hills, as they believe a new form of treatment carried out by the hospital in Mexico could be the answer to Sophie's problems.

Jamie went on to say: "We follow someone on YouTube who calls himself the cancer guy and he is at the forefront of new drugs and treatment options. Having spoken with him he said a facility in Canada is carrying next generation sequencing which could totally cure her but the cost alone of having her the sequencing carried out is £11,000.

"The most positive form of treatment would be a microport from Williams Cancer Institute in Mexico. They are based in Beverly Hills but the actual procedure would be in Mexico as permission won't be granted for it to be carried out in America. I have sent all of Sophie's medical information over to them and we're positive that they may be able to help. If someone has multiple tumours they inject directly into it using three techniques to shrink it and inject compounds into where the tumour was and that then hopefully allows the immune system to recognise the cancer which eventually makes the tumour disappear, it's called the abscopal effect.

"That would be the ultimate treatment for us. It would take a few of these procedures to shrink them enough but then there's the money to think about it. Everything is ridiculously expensive. The treatment in Mexico alone is between $30/40,000 per treatment and she may need several, we just don't know."

The family are desperately trying to gather more funds while also having to pay for regular vitamins, consultations and deposits for new treatments overseas. Jamie added: "We're trying to sell anything we can including the family mini buses, my motorbike and maybe a family flat we bought in the Borders a while ago as Sophie is more important. We've had so many rejections now for trials and from hospitals saying her condition is too progressive but she's got two tumours and isn't riddled, she's very happy and active.

"She has even applied to go to college to study healthcare herself so she's got a plan for her future considering her oncologist gave her two years to live last April. We're sick of being told Sophie has to go into palliative care. We've obviously done the whole crowdfunding thing and looking for trials and alternative treatment ourselves without anyone advising us but it is a total minefield as there are so many. You have to have hope or what would be the point."

To donate to the fundraiser, click here.

Rom Preston-Ellis