A SINGLE mother has issued a plea for help to raise £500,000 to fund lifesaving treatment for her daughter.

Vicki Alderson, a former North Yorkshire Police project manager from Northallerton, said she could have as little as a few months to finance treatments unavailable on the NHS for her ten-year-old daughter Gaby, who was diagnosed in September with stage 4 MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma.

She said a scan had revealed a mass on Gaby’s abdomen. Further tests showed she had the aggressive and rare cancer which affects a few children in the UK annually, alongside secondary cancers in her bones.

After 80 days of clinical trial treatment, tests revealed that while Gaby’s tumours had responded well, cancer remained in her bone marrow, meaning planned transplant surgery was postponed. On Boxing Day Gaby started a six-week heavy dose of chemotherapy.

Ms Alderson said: “We’re expecting the results of a biopsy, and hopefully if the cancer is gone from the bones we can start back on the clinical trial, but if it isn’t we’ve got to look at other options abroad.”

“We don’t have any time to raise an initial target of £250,000, and £500,000 by the end of the year. Even if Gaby has responded well, it is highly likely that she will relapse, so we are trying to get the funds together as quickly as possible, so she can have those choices, which would make a huge difference.”

For details about the campaign or to donate, visit Justgiving.com/NCCAUKGabrielles-journey or text GABR78.