£151,000+ raised for ‘vivacious and fun-loving’ NI girl who received incurable cancer diagnosis during lockdown - family pin hopes on clinical trial treatment in America

Just five days ago Susanne Osborne launched a GoFundMe for her 18-year-old daughter Rachel after she was diagnosed with a tumour in her spinal cord.

Although she had set a target of £100,000 - already almost £152,000 has been raised.

“We’d just like to take this opportunity to say how overwhelmed we are by everyone’s kindness, generosity and support that people that we both know and don’t know have shown us at this most difficult time for our family,” Susanne says at start of fundraiser.

The earlier explanation of what the fundraiser is for says: “Rachel is the youngest member of our family.

“At 18 years old, she had just finished her final year of school and was excited at the prospect of leaving home and studying Anatomy at the University of Glasgow later this month.

“However, Rachel’s and our world was turned upside down in July.

“After suffering reduced power in her right leg and subsequent foot drop during lockdown, Rachel had an MRI scan presenting a tumour in her spinal cord mid July.

“She had emergency surgery on the 24th of July and we were then given the most devastating news that Rachel was diagnosed with a diffuse midline glioma (a very rare and aggressive tumour residing inside her spinal cord) for which there is currently no cure.

“Victims of this tumour have a very short life expectancy from diagnosis and therefore we are looking at every option available to potentially prolong Rachel’s life as much as possible.

“While Rachel is currently undertaking 6 weeks of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, this route of treatment can only be taken once, so therefore we are looking at further emerging treatment options.

“We need to raise funds to allow Rachel to take part in a clinical trial in America using a new drug which is unfortunately not available on the NHS.

“This drug has shown promising signs from previous data and therefore has given us a glimmer of hope that Rachel could potentially fulfil her dream of going to university.

“We are so proud of Rachel-she is vivacious and fun-loving and she always thinks of everyone else but now is the time where we are asking family and friends to help Rachel.

“We want to do everything in our power to help her, so any donations to support her treatment in America would be hugely appreciated and we can’t thank you all enough for the support.

“Lots of love from the Osborne Family”.

Donate for Rachel here

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