Cambridgeshire parents speak of son's 'pride' for new cancer research
They've raised enough funding to start new projects into the illness
Last updated 9th Sep 2024
The parents of a Cambridgeshire boy believe their son would be proud they've been able to fund more research into the illness that took his life.
George Radcliffe died last October after being diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a soft tissue tumour which affects muscles attached to the bone, aged three-years-old in May 2022.
George's parents Lisa and David from Isleham have since helped set up a fundraiser in his memory, which has now helped fund research projects to help improve the treatment and care of young rhabdomyosarcoma patients.
'It's early days'
Lisa said this would make George and other families happy.
"He'd have loved counting all of the money we raised; some of it is about making George proud, championing families that are in the situation we were in, supporting them and shouting loud for them.
"For families like ours, when your child is diagnosed and there are still question marks around the diagnosis and the treatment that might help your child, it's just devastating to hear that not enough research has been done.
"We're really excited but it's so early days, we have the limited information and the next step will be our opportunity to meet the researchers and ask them questions."
What is the research about?
The projects are being led by Professor Janet Shipley, at the Institute of Cancer Research, and Dr Darrell Green, at the University of East Anglia.
Professor Shipley hopes to find a better way to predict how aggressive rhabdomyosarcoma will be at the time of diagnosis, so all patients receive the right amount of treatment.
“This project aims to identify markers that can identify rhabdomyosarcoma patients that are at greater or lesser risk of succumbing to their disease with current treatments,” she said.
The research team has found markers that are only found in certain conditions in tumours, like low oxygen levels.
In this project, they will test which of these markers is best able to predict risk for patients in the hope one day, this improves the treatment and care of high-risk patients and spare low-risk patients extra toxicity.
Dr Green’s project focuses on the fusion-positive type of rhabdomyosarcoma, a type where patients have one of two mutant genes.
“Our project is intended to understand the finer details of rhabdomyosarcoma genetics so that we can eventually develop new medicines that target specific abnormalities," he said.
"This approach means that medicines will be both more effective and gentler on the rest of the body.”
Dr Green will look at what difference the 3D structure of the mutant gene's instructions makes to the gene and to different patients, which are important to assess cancer development, behaviour and responses to treatment.
More than £117,000 raised
Last September, Lisa and David set up the Just George fund for the Children's Cancer and Leukaemia Group and have since raised more than £117,000.
Lisa hopes the new research projects can send a message to other families who've had a similar experience to them.
"If they understand what childhood cancer can look like and some of the signs and symptoms, if we can raise awareness, it might empower parents to ask those questions and keep going back when sometimes you don't want to make a fuss," she added.