Lottie

Lottie’s story

After her brother and sister became unwell, two-year-old Lottie's parents figured it would only be a matter of time before she would be next. Lottie began vomiting and was up most of the night. The next day she slept on and off but still seemed under the weather. Charlotte, Lottie’s mum, then received a call from the childminder because Lottie was very unwell and took her to the GP.  

A paramedic, who happened to be at the surgery, saw Lottie and agreed that something wasn’t right. He wanted Lottie to be checked over at the local hospital and wrote a letter for Charlotte to take to the Accident and Emergency department. 

At the hospital, a doctor felt Lottie’s tummy and requested an X-ray. Following the X-ray, Dave, Lottie’s dad, and Charlotte were told a blockage was visible in Lottie’s bowel, which the medical team believed was caused by poor nutrition. In the knowledge that Lottie had a healthy and varied diet, her parents refuted the diagnosis and asked for an ultrasound, which was arranged immediately. 

Treatment

The next day, the family was transferred to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, where a medical team was waiting to prepare Lottie for a biopsy of the tumour and bone marrow aspirates. Her parents were informed of the devastating news that they had confirmed the disease to be neuroblastoma and Lottie started chemotherapy three hours later. 

Lottie responded well to frontline treatment and in September 2017 finished treatment with scans showing no evidence of disease. Lottie’s family, and her treating team identified the bivalent vaccine clinical trial as the next step for Lottie in the hope of giving her the best chance of remaining disease-free. Due to Lottie's primary tumour having MYCN markers, she could be more susceptible to relapsing.

Lottie and her family remained ever positive and with the support of Solving Kids’ Cancer UK and thanks to incredible support of her community, Lottie was able to access the trial in New York after raising £155,000. Lottie completed the trial in 2018 and remains in remission. 

Lottie is now nine and has faced some challenges since finishing treatment, including increased anxiety, damage to her liver and trouble remembering things, however she remains such a happy and resilient child. She loves horse riding, skating, riding her bike and most recently has started karate. 

Solving Kids' Cancer UK's children's fundraising campaigns 

_{Funds raised will go towards helping Lottie and her family. If Lottie no longer needs the funds or is in remission five years post the end of successful treatment, the funds will be used to support other children and families affected by neuroblastoma through our activities. For children with high-risk neuroblastoma, like Lottie, the survival rate is much lower than other childhood cancers. Upon relapse, this rate reduces even further.}