Help Alice Beat Cancer Fund

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Norah McNulty and 2 others are organizing this fundraiser.

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Alice is a bright, beautiful, and brave 9-year-old. In April 2022, her world was turned on its head. Alice was diagnosed with stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma. Neuroblastoma is a rare, aggressive, and complex cancer of the nerve cells. Chances of relapse are high, and it carries low survival rates. We’re certain she will beat these odds but we need your help. Please donate now to help our beautiful Alice get the treatment she urgently needs.

We’re raising €550,000 to get Alice access to life-saving cancer drugs in a clinical trial at the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Centre in New York.

This specialised treatment will help Alice Beat her Cancer. And your donations will help us get there.

On behalf of Alice and all of her loving family, we offer our heartfelt thanks in advance for your support.

—Norah and Dylan, Alice’s parents

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How Your Donation Will Make A Difference

Alice has undergone six months of chemotherapy at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin (Dublin, Ireland), since her diagnosis earlier this year. Her treatment has included eight rounds of induction chemotherapy and two rounds of higher-dose chemotherapy.

In addition, Alice has bravely faced a surgical biopsy, had a central line surgically inserted, multiple bone marrow aspirates, stem cell harvesting, nuclear medicine scans, and countless injections.

Alice is now due to undergo complex surgery at Sant Joan de Déu (SJD) Hospital in Barcelona. They will remove the primary tumour from her adrenal gland and abdomen on October 4th, and she will commence a chemo-immunotherapy trial soon after she recovers.

A Little Bit About Alice

Alice is a bubbly, bright girl, bursting with energy and a real sense of fun. She loves to sing and act, and entertain. She adores animals, horses, hamsters, Basil her beloved bunny, and Fern her dog. She’s also a natural athlete and loves running and swimming.

Alice attends Carysfort National School in Dublin, Ireland, and loves going there, especially to play with all her friends. Alice has missed her friends so much during treatment and pleads with her Mom to go to school between treatments. This can be a real balancing act as Alice's immunity has been severely damaged by the high doses of chemotherapy she has received so far.

Alice loves singing and acting with Ciara Phelan (Arclight Drama) in Carysfort N.S. and Dublin Stage School. She has a beautiful voice. She loves running for her Athletics Club, Blackrock Athletics Club (BAC), horse riding in Carrickmines Equestrian, playing hockey, tennis, gymnastics, or swimming in the sea… even in the winter!

Alice is a kind and loving little girl, who adores and is adored by all her family and friends, especially her big sister, Laragh. Alice wants to be an ordinary girl again. She wants to be able to play with her friends and participate in all the activities she loves.

Alice's Diagnosis

The warning signs were there. Alice was off-form, more tired than usual, but she never complained of any pain. As parents we knew something was wrong and brought her for preliminary testing. Nothing prepared us for what was to come.

At the end of Easter, April 2022, Alice was diagnosed with stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma. She started induction chemotherapy the next day.

This was the beginning of what has been, and what will be, a long journey for Alice. She has faced it with amazing strength and bravery.

Neuroblastoma is a rare, aggressive, and complex cancer of the central nervous system, most commonly found in very young children. Unfortunately, it is also the most life-threatening form of cancer in children. The odds are challenging, and relapse is a huge concern even if the cancer goes into remission.

This occurs in half of all cases, and when it does come back, it’s very hard to treat, and survival rates are very low. Alice’s case is particularly challenging.

Family and friends sought help early, given Alice's high-risk diagnosis. International neuroblastoma experts from the USA, France, UK, and Spain have guided Alice's treatment plan. Alice's family is forever grateful to these international experts.

Alice has responded well to her frontline treatment at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin. Though the course of chemotherapy was gruelling, Alice received such kindness and attention from the staff there, for which we are very grateful.

Alice's Participation In MSK Clinical Trial

Unfortunately, participation in clinical trials is necessary in many high-risk cases to prevent relapse. To give Alice the best possible chance of avoiding relapse and making a full recovery, she needs to take part in a cutting-edge clinical trial at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York.

This will involve trialling a vaccine that aims to trigger a response of the immune system against neuroblastoma.

Cancer vaccines are another form of immunotherapy. They train the immune system to identify and destroy neuroblastoma cells lurking in the body after chemotherapy. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has the most experience in the world with cancer vaccines for children with neuroblastoma. Over 250 children have received a novel neuroblastoma immunotherapy and vaccine invented at MSK Kids. It is called a bivalent vaccine because it targets two proteins found on neuroblastoma cells: GD2L and GD3L.

It is the only paediatric tumour vaccine in existence.

Because neuroblastoma is so rare, the progress of developing new treatments is slow. Phased clinical trials often run for many years and across international borders to obtain statistically accurate results. These trials are not just of potential benefit to the children who take part in them and access therapies outside of standard care—they also benefit future children diagnosed with this aggressive cancer by testing and developing new treatments for mainstream clinical use.

Participation in this life-saving trials are massively expensive—that is why we, Alice’s family, are undertaking this fundraising.

This is a huge amount of money, but we are confident that we will help Alice Beat Cancer with your support.