Hassocks parents need £250,000 to help three-year-old Teddy fight cancer: fundraiser makes £14,000 in just one week

Kat Lichten, 34, and her husband Alastair, 33, set up the page www.solvingkidscancer.org.uk/Appeal/teddylichten for their son Teddy on February 13 after he was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in July last year.

They hope to raise £250,000 to £300,000 for potentially lifesaving treatment, which will either get their son into remission or prevent the aggressive cancer from returning later.

“It’s really heartening to see that people who don’t even know us are donating,” said Kat, adding that people can also donate by texting “TEDDYL”, followed by any whole amount up to £20, to 70085.

Kat explained that Teddy had just become a big brother to baby Rupert when he started to experience fevers last summer. He also had low energy levels, a low appetite and said his sides hurt.

She said: “Our worst suspicion when he went into hospital was that he had appendicitis.”

But Kat said doctors ruled this out and thought Teddy might have a kidney blockage, so they carried out an ultrasound scan and discovered the cancer.

Kat said she and Alastair were ‘completely floored’ by the ‘horrific’ diagnosis.

She said: “Everything you think you know about your life and your security just gone in an instant.”

After weeks of biopsies, scans and blood tests, the parents were told that Teddy’s neuroblastoma was ‘metastatic high risk’ with only a 40 per cent chance of survival at diagnosis.

Since then Teddy has had several rounds of induction chemotherapy, a central line fitted, general anaesthetics for bone marrow aspirates and scans, tube insertions, a stem cell harvest, high dose chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant.

“He’s currently one week into a projected five-week hospital stay for a (second) stem-cell transplant,” said Kat. “Then we’ve got about four week recovery period from that because he’ll be severely immune compromised."

Kat said Teddy’s first stem cell transplant landed him in paediatric intensive care on Christmas Eve and she was not able to see her youngest son on his first Christmas.

She said Teddy is ‘relatively well’ for the moment and enjoying ‘being a normal little boy’ because he has just had a five-week break from treatment.

“We know that this stage of treatment will really knock him back again,” she said, adding that he will face radio therapy and months of immunotherapy afterwards.

Teddy is now undergoing NHS treatment but Kat said neuroblastoma has a high probability of relapse with a low chance of survival after that. The fundraiser aims to get Teddy ‘maintenance treatment’ in America to help prevent a relapse.

Kat said: “That would be around £250,000 to £300,000.” But she explained that as their fundraiser nears their target Solving Kids Cancer will create a budget to include everything like flights, accommodation and travel insurance.

Neuroblastoma affects 100 children in the UK each year with 50 of those are classed as ‘high risk’ like Teddy.

People can donate at www.solvingkidscancer.org.uk/Appeal/teddylichten and visit Teddy’s Instagram at www.instagram.com/teddyandthebigc as well as his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TeddyBigC.