Hawick family race to raise £300,000 to take three-year-old daughter to America for cancer treatment

The family of a three-year-old girl is trying to raise £300,000 to fund specialist cancer treatment in the US.

Flora Gentleman, from Hawick, has Neuroblastoma, a rare cancer which mostly affects children under the age of five.

She was diagnosed last year where her family was told she has a one in ten chance of survival if she were to relapse following treatment.

Flora's cancer first started in her kidneys which then spread to her bone marrow and then to her head.

Flora's mum Stephanie said: "To be told your child is moving to an oncology ward, even now when I think about it, it makes be shaky because it was so surreal and it was really really hard.

"I remember getting pre-warned that you're going to be going into a children's oncology ward you may see a child who is bald or a child who is very unwell or has a feeding tube just to warn you.

"And I remember just keeping my head down because I was so worried I was going to see one of these children and I was too scared because it was almost like looking into your future of that's what Flora was going to end up looking like."

Flora has had extensive treatment at the Royal Hospital for Children in Edinburgh but when she goes into remission her parents are hoping to go with her to America for further treatment.

The experimental treatment in New York would take place in the summer and hopefully enhance her life expectancy.

The specific treatment that Flora's parents are looking into is not available in the UK on the NHS or privately which is why they want to travel overseas.

The £300,000 will cover hospital costs as well as travel, with around a third being raised already.

Stephanie added: "There's clinical trials in America that are there to improve your chances, they sort of train your body to sort of recognise the Neuroblastoma cells and attack them so it's kind of like a maintenance therapy."