General Chat

Good luck to this lad i hope it works for him

Hope he does well with the treatment.

This story is of a little lad who has undergone chemo treatment, and was highlighted on the local STV news during the week.

Wishing him all the best, and sending positive thoughts.

AS CHRISTMAS presents go, the chance of a life-saving operation has to be up there with the best of them.

A toddler battling cancer is set to become the first Scot to fly to the United States for a potentially lifesaving cancer treatment after the NHS agreed to foot the £120,500 bill.

Twenty-two-month-old Ross Anderton, who suffers from a rare muscle cancer called orbital rhabdomyosarcoma, could be flying out as early as next week after funding for treatment at the Florida Proton Therapy Institute was approved.

Ross was diagnosed with the cancer, which affects fewer than 60 children in the UK every year, in August and since then his parents Lesley Lauder and Andy Anderton, of Ormiston, East Lothian, have been exploring every option to help their sick child.

Mum Lesley, 38, a clinical data manager, said: "It's a very aggressive form of cancer so our only hope was that the chemo would shrink it.

"When we found the proton beam therapy on the internet, we asked the radiologist at the Western General about it and he said Ross would be the perfect candidate.

"The NHS have sent patients abroad for this procedure in the past but Ross will be the first one from Scotland.

"We're hoping to fly out next week but Ross' immune system has been completely wiped out by the chemo, so we have to wait and see if he recovers enough to fly safely by the end of the week."

The NHS will only fund the cost of the operation, meaning the family have to pay for all of their travel and accommodation costs.

A fundraiser was held last night at Tranent's Macmerry Miners' Welfare & Social Club, and this morning the Haddington Pipe Band were set to lead Ross' supporters out on a sponsored walk from Ormiston to Tranent.

Miss Lauder added: "Ross is too young to be aware of all the fuss that's being made over him, which is a blessing because it means he'll probably have little memory of the suffering he's had to go through with the cancer treatments. It's been quite tough for him.

"We've been very fortunate to have a great deal of family support, and the grandparents have been great looking after our daughter Katie, who is three, while we've been taking Ross to the hospital.

"We've been told that after the proton therapy there is a one in three chance that the cancer will grow back, but I would prefer it if it was nil."

this is from edinburgh evening news 12 dec 2009