We’re delighted to shine a light on one of our superstar supporters, who is really driving the funding of research in a field they’re extremely passionate about – children’s cancer and children’s leukaemia.
Carter the Brave is a fundraising group set up in support of patient Carter Chatting who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, a type of cancer which affects the white blood cells, when he was just four years old.
Carter and his family have spent long periods of time at our hospital. Keen to give something back as a way to thank our hospital but also improve experiences for other families like theirs, the Carter the Brave community group has long been invested in research.
An incredible £107,000 was donated to support research into a new drug which blocks nutrient uptake in cancer cells, to allow doctors to offer a less-aggressive treatment option for children and young people diagnosed with leukaemia. The results of which means researchers are now ready to take the treatment into clinical trials for children with relapsed cancers, for whom other treatment options have failed.
Carter the Brave is now funding further research which will help our Children's Cancer Centre offer more holistic treatment.
.
Cost Comparison of Inpatient vs Outpatient Ifosfamide and Cyclophosphamide Chemotherapy Cycles
A child or young person receiving a chemotherapy cycle of Ifosfamide or Cyclophosphamide for cancer treatment, often needs to be admitted to our hospital for treatment.
On the occasion an inpatient bed is unavailable the child’s treatment is delayed, which is extremely worrying and disruptive for families. Delays also waste expensive, short expiry chemotherapy drugs.
Thanks to funding from Carter the Brave, a new research project will assess the feasibility of our children’s cancer centre’s delivering its most common inpatient Ifosfamide and Cyclophosphamide treatment cycles in an outpatient setting. A scenario which has proved successful within adult care.
The project will include considerations for how to address potential patient barriers such as transport costs. Outcomes will also inform how to best invest in a new outpatient treatment pathway with reduced pressure on hospital resources whilst improving patient experience.