STORY

As a family, we were blessed to have our beautiful Ellie for 18 years so we set out to honour her life by raising £18,000. We reached this target within 6 months so have increased our target to £50,000. Any funds raised will go towards research into Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) through Blood Cancer UK.
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Ellie was diagnosed with AML in October 2020 which carries a less than 20% five year survival rate. Her treatment was incredibly brutal and even if her stem cell transplant had been successful, she would have been left with a lifetime of health problems. Although some types of Leukaemia currently carry survival rates of over 90%, this is not the case for AML and those diagnosed deserve to have hope for a happy and healthy future.

The first £16,000 we have raised was directed towards the VICTOR Clinical Trial for AML run by Dr Dillon who Ellie was under at Guy's Hospital. Ellie received this drug but sadly it didn't work for her, our hope is that this research will be able to predict what types of AML it will work for in the future.

We are now directing further funds raised towards a research project into AML by Dr Neil Rodrigues at Cardiff University. Dr Rodrigues and his team have identified a key molecule involved in the normal function of blood cells and have found that the levels of this molecule are lower than they should be in people who have AML. They think that by raising the levels of this molecule, they might be able to restore the normal functions of blood cells. Ultimately, this could provide people with AML with a new treatment option and improve the chance of survival for people with the disease.

Ellie raised over £20,000 for various charities throughout her treatment. We would like to use this fund to continue her incredible legacy and play our part in helping researchers find kinder and more effective treatments for AML. We hope that our fundraising will contribute towards the day when no one loses a loved one to this awful disease.

We know that nothing we can do will bring Ellie back or fix the heartache that we feel every single day but we know that she would want us to help fund research, in the hope that one day there will be a cure for everyone diagnosed with AML. 

The outstanding efforts and stories of a group of exceptional young people were celebrated in style at the Inspirational YoungStars Awards on Friday night.

It was the showcase of an initiative launched in partnership between the Cambridge Independent and Cambridge Charity Fundraisers to spotlight the brilliant work and stories of youngsters across society.

There was a full array of emotions on display at the awards dinner, which was hosted by BBC Look East’s Jonathan Park.

After the emotional citations of some of the winners, the compere for the evening conducted some superb interviews, with the responses of the young interviewees drawing laughs all round.A judging panel which included Lord Lieutenant Julie Spence, and representatives of Mick George, Cambs FA, Cambridge Charity Fundraisers and the Cambridge Independent felt that the strength of the nominations merited a far broader scope for the awards and increased the range from four to 10 individual award winners, with a further four highly commended.

Read more about the evening by following the link below

https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/news/in-depth/winners-of-the-cambridge-independent-and-cambridge-charity-f-9261512/