Family, friends and strangers give teenage girl the gift of life after raising £340,000: 14-year-old has battled cancer for three years and is finally given the all-clear following surgery in the US
- Kira Noble, from Edinburgh, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in 2014
- She has endured 6 rounds of chemotherapy and major abdominal surgery
- Kira’s family raised funds to get an appointment with a world-class surgeon
- And last month, she had her tumour removed by a specialist team in New York
- Kira yesterday received the all-clear via e-mail and her family are ‘over the moon’
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A 14-year-old girl who has battled cancer for three years has been given the all-clear following life-changing £340,000 surgery in the US.
Kira Noble has already endured six gruelling rounds of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and major abdominal surgery in her fight against neuroblastoma.
It is the same cancer that killed Bradley Lowery, the six-year-old who earned the admiration of millions across the world before he passed away last July.
Surgeons in the UK were unable to remove Kira’s tumour, forcing her family to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds to get an appointment with a world-class surgeon.
And last month, she had her tumour taken out after a seven-hour operation at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York.
Kira, who spent almost three weeks in the Big Apple before returning home to Edinburgh with her mother Aud, yesterday received the all-clear via e-mail.
Kira Noble has already endured six gruelling rounds of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and major abdominal surgery in her fight (pictured shortly after having surgery in New York)
‘Over the moon’
Mrs Noble, 51, said she had high hopes for the surgery and the results don’t come as much of a surprise. She added: ‘We are over the moon.
‘However, I’m not surprised because we gave Kira the best possible chance with this surgeon. That is why we flew across the Atlantic for her to have the operation.
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‘I surprisingly wasn’t too nervous reading the report. It was more excitement.
‘It is the best possible result that we could ever have hoped for at the moment and it is fantastic news.’
Kira’s mother, friends and kind-hearted strangers raised hundreds of thousands of pounds in April to get an appointment with a world-class surgeon (pictured in hospital in New York)
And last month, she had her tumour taken out after an operation at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York (pictured before the surgery while in New York)
WHAT IS NEUROBLASTOMA?
Neuroblastoma is a rare cancer that affects children and usually starts in the abdomen.
Around 100 children, who are typically under five, are diagnosed every year in the UK.
The disease affects approximately 700 new children annually in the US.
In around half of cases, neuroblastoma spreads to other parts of the body, particularly the liver and skin.
Neuroblastoma’s cause is unclear. There may be a family-history link.
The main symptom is usually a lump in the abdomen, which may cause swelling, discomfort or pain.
If the disease affects the spinal cord, it can lead to numbness, weakness and loss of movement in the lower part of the body.
Treatment depends on how advanced the cancer is and the risk it will return after therapy.
Surgery, and chemo and radiotherapy, are commonly used.
Source: Cancer Research UK
Smashing targets
The teenager captured hearts across the world, with the Noble family managing to smash their target by more than £100,000.
A total of £437,000 was raised to pay for Kira’s trip to have specialised surgery for neuroblastoma, which strikes around 100 young people in the UK each year.
The family are under no illusion none of this would have been possible without the immense public backing during her cancer battle.
Mrs Noble said: ‘We just cannot thank the public enough. It covers me in goosebumps thinking about the magnitude of the total that has been raised.
‘There is money still pouring in, which is phenomenal. There are no words to sum up how thankful we are to everyone who has helped us reach this stage.
‘Kira is not on top form at the moment because she is suffering from some abdominal pains, but she is over the moon with the news.’
Her battle
Kira was 11 and had been suffering from abdominal pain when doctors diagnosed neuroblastoma. She underwent 15 months of chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy before going into remission in October 2015.
The cancer returned in early 2016. After further treatment she went into remission again, but a routine scan last year showed the tumour was growing again.
Kira had more chemotherapy and then surgery in January but all of the ‘glue-like’ mass from her right adrenal gland could not be removed.
Refusing to give up, her mother and father Ronnie, helped by the charity Solving Kids’ Cancer, tirelessly researched possible treatments and discovered a surgeon who specialised in the complex and costly treatment she needed.
The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center – the biggest neuroblastoma unit in the world – was her best hope.
Not over yet
Despite the all-clear after her most recent surgery in New York, Kira’s treatment is not yet over.
Kira, who spent almost three weeks in the Big Apple before returning home to Edinburgh with her mother Aud, yesterday received the all-clear via e-mail (pictured in New York before undergoing vital surgery at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre)
The teenager captured hearts across the world, with the Noble family managing to smash their target by more than £100,000 (pictured in New York before undergoing vital surgery at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre)
WHY WAS THE SURGERY NOT AVAILABLE IN THE UK?
Kira was 11 and had been suffering from abdominal pain when doctors diagnosed neuroblastoma. She underwent 15 months of chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy before going into remission in October 2015.
The cancer returned in early 2016. After further treatment she went into remission again, but a routine scan last year showed the tumour was growing again.
Kira had more chemotherapy and then surgery in January but all of the ‘glue-like’ mass from her right adrenal gland could not be removed.
Refusing to give up, her mother and father Ronnie, helped by the charity Solving Kids’ Cancer, tirelessly researched possible treatments and discovered a surgeon who specialised in the complex and costly treatment she needed.
The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center – the biggest neuroblastoma unit in the world – was her best hope.
The teenager starts her next round of chemotherapy in Edinburgh on Monday, with further treatment to follow.
The family have not celebrated due to Kira feeling unwell, but Ms Noble revealed they have a dream destination in mind for a family holiday following the completion of Kira’s treatment plan.
She explained: ‘It is fantastic news, but there could still be microscopic neuroblastoma cells in her body, so we need to continue with some treatment in Edinburgh.
‘Microscopic cells are not picked up on MRI scans, so we need to continue treatment to make sure. We can’t sit back now and assume everything is good.
‘We certainly will celebrate when her treatment plan is complete. We’d absolutely love to go on a family holiday and go back to New York.’
Patients denied a drug
Kira’s all-clear news comes after the health watchdog in England and Wales denied children with neuroblastoma a life-extending drug on the NHS.
Nice stressed that it wanted to recommend patients with neuroblastoma are given dinutuximab beta – but argued it is too expensive and may not work.
It estimated dinutuximab beta – which can keep patients alive for longer – would cost the NHS between £62,300 and £79,900 per quality-adjusted life year gained.
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