Milton Keynes Hospital nurse overwhelmed by response to appeal for son's last-hope treatment

A nurse from Milton Keynes Hospital has been overwhelmed by the response from the local community to the appeal to save her son's life.

Dean’s parents David and Mercy Mandabva, both NHS nurses, are delighted and astonished that their appeal to raise £50,000 for treatment for Dean, 11, who has a high-grade Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), has been realised in just four days. DIPG is the deadliest form of childhood cancer.

Mercy is a stroke nurse at Milton Keynes University Hospital and David works at the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital.

Football-loving Dean, a keen member of Moretonville Junior Football Club, was diagnosed with a brain tumour last year and underwent radiotherapy – the only treatment available on the NHS for this type of cancer.

When the brain tumour returned, David and Mercy were forced to look abroad to immunotherapy as another option for their son as the survival prognosis for DIPG is usually eight to 12 months. This will then be followed up with nanotherapy which involves using nanoparticles to deliver a drug to the targeted area of the brain.

Mercy, a stroke nurse at Milton Keynes University Hospital, said: “It seemed so ironic that we as NHS nurses couldn’t help our son through the NHS.

"The compassion everyone has shown for Dean is unimaginable.

"We could never have achieved this target in such a short time and time is really of the essence now.”

David, a senior staff nurse at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital, said: “With travel severely restricted because of Covid-19, we weren’t able to pursue getting Dean on a clinical trial in the USA, but we did find dendritic cell therapy available in Germany and Spain.

“Last Thursday I set up a fundraising page to raise the £50,000 we needed to make this treatment happen and we had an absolutely amazing response. In just four days we had reached the target.

"Thank you all for your incredible support – this is truly amazing – and particular thanks to Moretonville JFC and Mix 96 radio for sharing the story far and wide. I never believed we would raise the money we needed to fund Dean’s brave fight.

“With Dean getting weaker, we hit an alarming setback, after our celebrations at reaching the target, when we heard that the phlebotomists from a private clinic in London couldn’t visit us before next Tuesday to take blood from Dean. Happily, a short time later, we heard that they can now come on Thursday 18 June.

"This is much better news as the blood drawn needs to be shipped to Germany where the cells will be cultured so that a vaccine can be made ready for Dean.

"Initially, Dean will have immunity boosters every day for two weeks, starting on Friday next week, followed by an injection of the dendritic cell therapy vaccine. This will be followed up by nanotherapy in Spain over a three-week period.

“We are praying that Dean will respond well to his treatment and get back to enjoying his life again, allowing him to return to school, as well as play the football he so loves.

"And most of all we want back the joy of having him fit and well and at the heart of our family again.”

Greg Smith, MP for Buckingham, has offered his support to the family and praised the Brain Tumour Research for their help in sharing the family’s desperate story.

David and Mercy are working with the charity Brain Tumour Research to share Dean’s story and will be donating some of the funds raised over the £50,000 target to Brain Tumour Research and other local charities that have helped in Dean’s Brave Fight.

With Wear A Hat Day with Flowers taking place on Friday, June 19, they are encouraging the community to join in the fun.

The day will see people holding virtual gatherings, or in person where social distancing rules allow, to don their favourite hats adorned with flowers and raise money for the cause.

Hugh Adams, charity spokesman at Brain Tumour Research said: “Research is the only hope if there are to be better treatment options in the future for patients like Dean.

"It’s appalling to think that this disease kills more children and adults under the age of 40 yet, historically, just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease.”

Brain Tumour Research funds sustainable research at dedicated centres in the UK. It also campaigns for the Government and the larger cancer charities to invest more in research into brain tumours in order to speed up new treatments for patients and, ultimately, to find a cure.

The charity is calling for a national annual spend of £35 million in order to improve survival rates and patient outcomes in line with other cancers such as breast cancer and leukaemia and is also campaigning for greater repurposing of drugs.

For more information about Wear A Hat Day with Flowers go to www.wearahatday.org. To donate to the crowdfunding page click here.