Help for Daniel

On 2th of February 2023 our beautiful little boy Daniel didn't feel well and had some rush on his body, also he had high temperature and vomiting with some blood. He was 2 years old at the time. We took him to our local hospital emergency department. After checking his blood pressure, blood sample and ultrasound the doctor told as that Daniel had very high blood pressure, low platelets and they saw a mass on his left kidney. After the long night in the local hospital next day we have been sent via ambulance to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in Central London(GOSH). After another ultrasound, X-ray scan on the chest and MRI scan one of the doctor came to speak with me. I will never forget this conversation which changed our lives. The doctor told me that Daniel had tumor on his left kidney. I was in big shock and I didn't know what to say. The doctor started to explained that also X-ray scan showed that Daniel had another small tumor in one of his lungs than I asked: ,'Do you mean this is cancer?' and she said: ' Yes probably is Wilms tumor which has spread to the lungs'. I couldn't believe that this happens to as and I couldn't sleep next few nights. Everything then started to happen very fast, we quickly found ourselves admitted on the Elephant oncology ward. A few days later Daniel went under general anaesthetic to have a picc line fitted for chemotherapy treatment. The treatment plan was to do chemotherapy for 6 weeks to shrink the tumor than surgery to remove left kidney and primary tumor. Daniel has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer but without biopsy because of the risk of tumor bleeding .

After Daniel’s surgery on 30/03/2023, we had received more shattering news. The pathologist found Daniel’s cancer to be ‘High Risk’ and Diffuse Anaplastic (only 5-8% of all Wilms tumours fall into this category) This changed everything. It means that Daniel’s cancer is made up of unusual & rapidly dividing cells. They are resistant to chemo. It makes it much harder to cure & much more likely to come back after his initial course of treatment

He was diagnosed with a rare type of kidney cancer; A Wilms tumour. Only around 80 children are diagnosed with it in the UK each year. Since then, he has endured 12 months of intense chemotherapy, including 6 different cytotoxic drugs (Vincristine, Dactinomyocin, Doxorubicin, Etoposide, Carboplatin & Cyclophosphamide). Ten consecutive days of Radiotherapy to his lungs (under daily general anaesthetic). Plus a four hour surgery to remove his left kidney & primary tumour. The treatment he has had is likely to make him infertile.

However, despite the odds, in April 2023 we had some very positive news…Daniel’s scans showed NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE! Our consultant at GOSH showed us the before & after images of Daniel’s scans. The remaining tumour on Daniel’s lung had gone & they couldn’t see any residual cancer anywhere else in his body. It was the best possible news we could have hoped for.

The ‘High risk’ and Anaplastic features of Daniel’s diagnosis make his chance of relapse high - 50% . Should he relapse, our consultant has advised that we will not have many (if any) options left for treatment & Daniel’s chance of survival will plummet to around 10%. This is the whole reason behind our ‘Help for Daniel’ fundraising campaign!

We live everyday not knowing if Daniel will survive this long term or not. We could find ourselves in a desperate position where we need to access a clinical trial overseas quickly to try & save Daniel’s life. We will not risk being unprepared for this! Post treatment, Daniel will have x-rays & Ultrasounds every 3 months to check for cancer. His next scans are in May. We need to be vigilant in noticing symptoms or changes in Daniel’s body & general health so that we can act fast if necessary.

We want raise as much as we can, as quickly as we can! (in case he relapses quickly, which is common for Anaplastic Wilms) We are begging for help…there’s only so much time as a family we can dedicate to planning fundraising. Please consider if there is something you could do to help us- a donation, fundraising challenge, idea or event? Clinical trials abroad can cost in the region of $600 000.

Now Daniel has completed his chemotherapy treatment and he's recovering. He still doesn't want to eat and drink so he is on NG feeding.

We worry that Daniel's cancer is advanced and high risk, we have been advised that immunotherapy can improve the survival rate as well can boost his immune system to recognise any cancer cells left and kill them.

This is another reason that we do the foundation.

Thank you very much for your help !

Radka Dimitrova (mum)

Rumen Chortanov (dad)

Tanya (Daniel's Godmother)

Michaela (Family friend)

Thanks to all good people for doing donations for our son Daniel !