Diagnosed with cancer when aged two ... Nicholas Forwood with sister Charlotte, 10, and brother Luke, 12. Source: News Corp Australia
THREE-year-old Nicholas Forwood's cancer treatment left him so radioactive he had to be isolated in a lead-lined room and his carers had to wear Geiger counters when treating him.
The toddler, from Turramurra in Sydney, has spent most of the last 11 months in hospital battling the killer childhood cancer neuroblastoma and his bravery has inspired his siblings to raise $90,000 for medical research.
Nicholas' ten-year-old sister Charlotte and his 12-year-old brother Luke are aiming to raise $120,000 to pay for the clinical trial of a promising new treatment for neuroblastoma being developed by Australian company Novogen but it may come too late for Nicholas.
Doctors say there is just a one-in-five chance Nicholas will be alive in a year's time when trials of the drug begin.
This week he begins a painful experimental immunotherapy treatment his parents hope will send his cancer into remission but it carries a rare risk it could stop his heart, liver and kidneys working and leave him blind.
NOVOGEN CHIEF: Cancer treatment drug will be affordable
Beginning a painful experimental immunotherapy treatment ... Nicholas Forwood's parents hope it will send his cancer into remission. Source: News Corp Australia
Nicholas' father Tom Forwood said by the time doctors diagnosed his cancer in May last year it was a stage-four high-risk disease that had spread throughout his body.
He had five cycles of chemotherapy and surgery to remove a large tumour from his abdomen but the cancer was still there.
In late January doctors injected Nicholas with a chemical called MIBG and high-dose radioactive iodine in an attempt to track down remaining cancer cells and burn them away.
The treatment left Nicholas so radioactive he was dangerous to others.
"He was too toxic to be exposed to anyone, he was put in a lead-lined room for five days and ICU nurses were only allowed brief visits and they had to have Geiger counters on them," Tom Forwood says.
Another harrowing high-dose chemotherapy treatment followed that left Nicholas with ulcers through his mouth and internal organs. He was so sore he did not open his mouth for weeks.
When he is not in hospital Nicholas runs and plays and laughs like any three year old.
Tom Forwood says the frustration of watching his little boy endure so much often makes him angry at the world but the way his other children are striving to raise funds for the Kids Cancer Project teaches adults how they should behave.
"I get angry at the world, they are trying to change things," he said.
Luke, Charlotte and Tom Forwood and nine of Mr Forwood's friends and colleagues shaved their heads to raise over $90,000 for the clinical trial of a new neuroblastoma therapy in the last few months.
Charlotte wants to push the donations to $120 000 because that is the most a single family would have ever raised for the Kids Cancer Project.
"We're not doing this for Nicholas, we're trying to get these funds in his honour," says Mr Forwood.
Today, a new research alliance called the Child Oncology Drug Alliance will be launched in Sydney combining the Kids Cancer Project, University of NSW, NewSouth Innovations and Novogen to fast track the development of the new anti-cancer medicine anti-tropomysin pioneered by Australian researchers.
"The Holy Grail of childhood cancer therapy is a medicine that is effective against a tumour such as neuroblastoma, but doesn't leave the sort of damage that the child then has to deal with for the rest of their life," says Novogen chief Graham Kelly.
"We believe the anti-tropomyosins we have developed have the potency, selectivity and safety profile to meet the special needs of children."
You can make a donation to Luke and Charlotte's fundraiser by going to https://give.everydayhero.com/au/luke-charlotte-forwood
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