Brave youngster heads stateside for pioneering treatment (From The Northern Echo)
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Brave Redcar youngster heads stateside for pioneering treatment for brain tumour
7:40am Monday 4th March 2013 in News
By Graeme Hetherington
Ruby Hodgson in hospital
A YOUNG girl will fly to America today for pioneering treatment in a bid to help save her life.
Little Ruby Hodgson has already bravely battled a brain tumour in her short life - but her family were left devastated when the condition returned.
Now the three-year-old from Redcar is heading to the US for specialist treatment in a bid to finally kill off the recurring tumour.
Her consultant says her best chance of beating it for good is at the pioneering University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute in Jacksonville.
The institute uses a treatment which targets tumours with high accuracy and minimises the chance of brain damage.
But the treatment alone could cost more than £100,000.
And with the trip expected to last at least eight weeks, the bill could be as much as £250,000.
The NHS has agreed to fund the cost of the treatment, so friends and relatives are now desperately trying to raise funds to ensure the youngster’s parents, Wayne and Sally and her sister Emily, are able to stay by her bedside during the treatment.
All four are due to fly out today for the treatment to start.
With both parents taking unpaid leave from work, friends and family are rallying round by organising a number of fundraisers.
Claire Patchett, who used to work with Ruby’s mum at a Redcar doctor’s surgery, has booked 70s disco legend Brutus Gold at The Empire in Middlesbrough on April 7.
She said: “Ruby is such a lovely little girl, so it is great news that she is able to get this treatment which will hopefully get rid of the tumour for good this time.
“Everyone is rallying round trying to raise as much money as possible so that Wayne and Sally don’t have to worry about money while Ruby is getting this life changing treatment.
“The family will be staying in America for approximately two months whilst Ruby has daily treatment. Fundraising is taking place to support the family with the costs incurred during such a lengthy stay away from home.”
For details on the fundraising, visit the Rubys Gift Facebook page, go to @rubyhgift on Twitter or email dbutters52@gmail.com Log onto www.skiddle.com/events/11798742/ for further details and tickets for the fundraising night.
