Leicestershire schoolgirl ‘radiant and stronger than ever’ after years of cancer treatment

A 10-year-old girl from Leicestershire has come out the other side of ‘uncertain’ cancer treatment ‘radiant and stronger than ever’, her mother has said. Eden Jones was just three years old when she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a type of blood cancer.

Her mother, Kate, said she went through two years and three months of various chemotherapy treatments, hospitalizations, drips, lumbar punctures, marrow aspirates and more. Kate said Stoney Stanton’s Eden enjoyed “she liked to win her beads of courage; for every hit and prod he had to endure’ and took the treatment like an ‘absolute champion’.

Now in remission, Eden and her family’s fundraising has helped support a new research project into B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Kate said: “She took the treatment like an absolute champ and rarely complained about having to be attached to a pump or to take their medication.

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“Eden now enjoys returning to Ward 27 at Leicester Royal Infirmary for clinic visits as he gets to see his favorite staff. He loved to earn his beads of courage for every blow he had to endure and came out the other side radiant and stronger than ever.”

Kate said childhood cancer treatments are “toxic, unpleasant and uncertain”. But the research, led by Dr Elitza Deltcheva of University College London, “hopefully provides a path to newer and kinder treatment options” for children with leukaemia.

Her work could lead to tests that can detect relapsed B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) and give doctors tools to better monitor their patients during chemotherapy, a CCLG spokesman said. In her project, Dr. Deltcheva hopes to be able to predict which B-ALL cells are likely to survive treatment.

If researchers can understand what makes these cells survive, they might be able to fight them better. She said: “Even though cancer treatment is long and very toxic, some cancer cells can survive and cause the disease to come back – sometimes years after initial diagnosis.

“In this project, we are trying to understand what makes these cells different from the rest and how to identify them. Our ultimate goal is to develop tools to help doctors identify cells that can survive therapy and kill them early on.

“If successful, this could prevent relapses and cure more children.” Eden raised money for the Children’s Cancer and Leukemia Group (CCLG) by holding raffles and selling gold ribbon badges.

Kate said she is currently planning a toy adoption in July, which was “definitely her favorite way to raise money”. Vicki Brunt, head of fundraising at CCLG, praised Eden and her family.

She said: “Our Special Named Fund families are truly amazing. Their dedication and passion are making a real difference to advancing the understanding and treatment of childhood cancer.”

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