Amelia's campaign

Amelia is six years old and loves exploring new places. Her favourite colours are pink and purple; she is the kindest little girl. She is so caring and puts everyone's needs before her own. 

In September 2020, at just two and a half years old, Amelia was diagnosed with stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma, a rare and aggressive childhood cancer that has a 40-50% chance of long-term survival at diagnosis. After completing frontline treatment in August 2022 and finally starting to enjoy a normal childhood, an emergency scan in April 2024 revealed that Amelia had devastatingly relapsed with new disease in her leg. 

Her parents, Katarzyna and Lukasz, are fundraising for potentially life-saving treatment for Amelia to get her back into remission. As she has relapsed, her treatment options are more limited. Treatment not available through the NHS can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. Follow Amelia’s story on social media. 

Amelia's story

Up until the summer of 2020, Amelia was a happy two-and-a-half-year-old. In August, mum Katarzyna became worried when Amelia had a sudden temperature spike of 40°C. When her temperature didn’t drop for 7 days, Katarzyna took her to A&E where a doctor said it was a virus and she was given paracetamol. After three days her temperature began to drop only to return several weeks later. 

Amelia was admitted to the children's ward at their local hospital and given antibiotics, but her temperature remained high. She was then referred for an x-ray and an abdominal ultrasound, which showed no abnormalities. The doctors were still concerned, and the family was referred to the Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Amelia was sent for an MRI scan. 

On September 14th 2020, the family were told the devastating news that Amelia had a large tumour in her stomach measuring roughly 17cm by 9cm. The following day Amelia was urgently transported by ambulance to the oncology centre at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, where they set up a central line, did a bone marrow aspiration and took a biopsy of the tumour for further examination. 

At the time, the doctors already suspected it was neuroblastoma, but the family had to wait for confirmation from the biopsy.  

Treatment so far

Amelia started chemotherapy treatment the next day for a total of 8 cycles every 10 days. Amelia dealt with this stage brilliantly, but after eight cycles, she still had too much disease to move onto the next stage of treatment. She needed a further 3 cycles of chemotherapy for 5 days every 3 weeks. Unfortunately, after completing these cycles the cancer cells were still present in Amelia’s body. 

After multiple tearful conversations with their oncology consultant, Amelia’s parents decided the best course of action would be to give Amelia an extra 3 cycles of combination chemotherapy with antibodies. 

Thankfully this treatment worked, and Amelia was back on track to continue the standard treatment protocol for neuroblastoma on the NHS. She then underwent high-dose chemotherapy, spending 5 weeks and 5 days in the hospital. 

In September 2021 further scans including an MRI and MIGB showed the disappointing news that cancer cells remained after high dose. Amelia continued onto radiotherapy treatment, in which every day for 3 weeks she was put under general anaesthetic. 

“She pulled through like a champ, always with a smile on her face. We didn’t know where all her strength had come from but it was something we all had to learn from her," says Kat.

In December 2021, Amelia had another round of scans which came back stable but showed some active neuroblastoma cells. Amelia went on to have six months of immunotherapy which she struggled with, as side effects included her skin becoming extremely dry, her lips cracking and she struggled to eat.  

In August 2022, 2 years after her initial diagnosis, Amelia completed frontline treatment, with end of treatment scans showing she was NEAD (no evidence of active disease). 

Amelia continued to be regularly monitored, with MRI scans every 3 months, which were all stable. She was enjoying her life, attending school and seeing her friends.  

Relapse 

On the 17th March 2024, Amelia woke up in the middle of the night screaming with pain in her leg. The pain wouldn’t go away, and when Amelia woke up a further three times that night Kat began to worry.  Amelia was booked in for an emergency scan, but before the family were able to attend it, Amelia started limping.  

The results of the MIBG were crushing, Amelia has relapsed, with a new tumour in her leg. A week later, on the 12th of April, their consultant officially confirmed it as a relapse.  After enjoying a ‘normal’ childhood since end of treatment in 2022, Amelia and her families’ lives were turned upside down once again with Amelia re starting treatment in hospital. 

Amelia will have 2 cycles of BIT chemotherapy treatment, and will then hopefully enrol on the MiNivAn clinical trial at the University Hospital at Southampton if eligible. 

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_{Solving Kids' Cancer UK's children's fundraising campaigns} 

_{Funds raised will go towards helping Amelia and her family. If Amelia 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 relapsed high-risk neuroblastoma, like Amelia, the survival rate is much lower than other childhood cancers.}