Phoebe
Phoebe is now 17. Phoebe loves spending time with her dogs, family and friends. She enjoys volunteering at the local hospital where she spends time serving tea to the patients in the stroke ward and orthopaedic ward.
"We are so proud of her and everything she does. Having been through it, we see so many stories of children fighting neuroblastoma. We just want to give people hope now."
Phoebe's parents, Rona and Chris
Phoebe's story
Phoebe was one of the first children to fundraise with Solving Kids’ Cancer UK (previously the 2Simple Trust). She was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma at the age of two – it had spread to her lymph nodes, bone marrow and 95% of her bones. She was given a 20% chance of survival.
Her treatment plan consisted of initial chemotherapy, stem cell harvest and transplant, surgery, high-dose chemotherapy, radiotherapy and differentiation treatment – six months of Retinoic Acid to restrain the abnormally fast growth of cancer cells.
During stem cell treatment, Phoebe developed a life-threatening chest infection and without an immune system to fight it, she spent 15 days in intensive care. As her condition slowly became more stable, doctors were concerned that she was not reacting as expected and may have some brain damage. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case and a month later, Phoebe was walking and talking again.
Phoebe responded amazingly well to the rest of her treatment and completed it in May 2009.
In late August 2018, Phoebe started high school in Scotland, a huge milestone for her and her family.
“When we were told she only had a 20% chance our hearts sank and we feared the worst. Looking back now, we believe we were upheld through it all by our faith in God. It’s amazing she is here now.”
Like any parents of a child in remission, there is always the worry the cancer will return: “We lived in fear of it. If she was ever ill, we would get scared, but slowly and surely over the years we have relaxed, especially recently.”
Phoebe is now 17 and is currently sitting her highers at school. She is hoping to go on to university to study speech and language therapy. She is learning to drive and is desperate to pass her test so she doesn't have to rely on mum and dad to take her everywhere! When she's not spending time with friends and family, she volunteers at the local hospital. In October 2020, Phoebe shaved off her hair to raise funds for charity.
