Flora

Flora’s story 

Flora had several hospital visits and investigations into her health and development prior to her neuroblastoma diagnosis and in January 2021, she was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. In the months that followed this diagnosis, her parents, Jamie and Stephanie noticed that Flora wasn’t quite herself. She was irritable, waking in the night and had an upset tummy and swollen lymph nodes. They took her to the GP three times over the course of the month only to be told she had a viral infection. 

By the end of March, Flora had deteriorated further and was admitted to hospital. She was pale, lethargic and had bruising around her eyes. Blood tests showed that Flora was anaemic and further tests were carried out. It was an agonising wait for Flora's parents. 

At the beginning of April, after finding a large tumour next to one of her kidneys and cancer in her skull, behind her eyes and in her bone marrow, Flora was diagnosed with stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma. 

Frontline Treatment 

Flora underwent 18 months of frontline treatment, including multiple rounds of chemotherapy, a seven-hour surgery to remove her tumour, five weeks of high-dose chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant in isolation, radiotherapy and immunotherapy. This was alongside countless scans and tests, general anaesthetics, and blood transfusions that go hand in hand with receiving cancer treatment.  

The side effects of treatment were tough, but Flora’s cheeky personality shone through despite the pain and discomfort she endured. Even on the darkest and hardest of days, Flora lit up the room with her infectious smile. Flora was the cheekiest child on the ward and enjoyed running around the corridors and making lots of noise!  

Flora completed her frontline treatment for neuroblastoma in August 2022 and her end-of-treatment scans showed no evidence of active disease, which meant she was eligible for the bivalent vaccine clinical trial.  

Vaccine trial and relapse

Funds raised through Flora’s campaign with Solving Kids' Cancer UK enabled her to go on to enrol on the clinical trial in New York in September 2022 with the aim of keeping the cancer away for good.

Flora and her family travelled to New York three times and Flora received six vaccines as part of the trial. Devastatingly, during routine scans required for the trial in September 2023, it was identified that Flora had relapsed meaning she was unable to continue with the trial.

Flora restarted NHS treatment and underwent three cycles of a chemotherapy and immunotherapy combination. Reassessment scans in November 2023 showed a reduction in disease, and scans in March 2024 once she’d completed six cycles of treatment showed she was 'no evidence of active disease'. But devastatingly in August the family discovered Flora's disease was back in her bone marrow and throughout her body.

Sadly, In November the family found out that Flora’s disease was no longer responding to treatment and her care was moved to palliative.

Flora passed away on the 16th December 2024 in the arms of her mum and dad.

_{Donations made in loving memory of children} 

_{Funds raised in loving memory of Flora will be used to support other children like Flora and their families through Solving Kids' Cancer UK's activities. Any funds raised through a previous fundraising campaign for access to treatment which were not spent on the child's treatment and pastoral needs are used to support other children and families through Solving Kids' Cancer UK's activities.}