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Emma Louise Clittie is just 4 years old, she is suffering from a very rare and aggressive childhood cancer called neuroblastoma. Neuroblastoma is a solid tumour cancer which spreads rapidly. Emma has the N-myc gene amplification which means it a lot more aggressive then "normal" neuroblastoma. Emma's cancer is stage 4, this means that cancer has already spread to more than one place in Emma's body. Emma has only been given a 20% chance of survival Recurrence after treatment is currently considered non-curative in the UK. There is an 80% chance that Emma's cancer will return as with most neuroblastoma cases. Emma's family are raising funds to help fight Emma's cancer from every angle possible and are leaving "NO STONE UNTURNED". This has lead them to America, they have more treatment options and don't consider recurrence as non-curative. One option is called antibody treatment and this is showing excellent results but this comes at a cost, a deposit of $350,000 is needed to start this treatment at MSKCC in New York. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Emma's family, friends and the general public. Baby Emma's Fund managed to raise the deposit amount in September 2007. Emma went to New York in January 2008. She currently has check up's every 3 months and the family currently work between Alder Hey in Liverpool and MSKCC in New York.
Message from Emma's daddy "Emma has a 20%
chance of beating Neuroblastoma, even if all goes well and the current treatment
works and Emma shows no sign of the cancer, this type of cancer comes back in
most children, usually in the first 2 years of remission. If Emma's cancer was
to come back, it's considered non-curative in the UK. The Doctors would tell me
to take my daughter home and enjoy the last few months of her life. How could I sit at home with my dying daughter knowing that treatment in America could save her life! No parent could. Stephen Clittie,
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