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Post by StokieSC on Dec 11, 2007 12:52:29 GMT
From todays Sentinel ...
Terminal cancer patient Ben Howard hopes he can be kept alive by pioneering treatment offered in China.
Friends and family are raising thousands of pounds to pay for Ben's gene therapy treatment.
The Ben Howard Appeal has been set up weeks after the seemingly healthy 21-year-old warehouse worker was told he had cancer.
And medics say the tumour in Ben's small intestine is so aggressive it is inoperable and drugs can only control the pain. Ben said: "I was devastated when the doctor told me I had cancer and that it was inoperable. But I feel optimistic about the gene therapy. At the moment I will try anything."
Stoke fan Ben and his 47-year-old mother Carol, who live at Levita Road, Oakhill, are pinning their hopes on the gene therapy treatment. Mrs Howard found out about the treatment after speaking to a friend in Nottingham, whose business partner had also been diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer two years ago and had undergone the procedure and is now back at work.
Medics at the Haidian Hospital, in Beijing, which carries out the procedure, have already told Ben he is a suitable for the therapy.
But the potentially life-saving treatment costs £2,000 a dose in addition to private medical fees, and it is not yet known how many doses Ben will need. Mrs Howard is also trying to locate a British or European gene therapy trial so Ben would not have to go to China for treatment.
She said: "We have been offered the gene therapy by the hospital in Beijing, which will supply the treatment to us, but it is up to us to raise the money and find a treatment centre as close to home as possible.
"The doctors here are so despondent about Ben's chances, and I wouldn't believe what gene therapy could do myself if I hadn't heard of someone who had been completely cured by it.
"Ben is so young and such a popular and caring lad that if anyone deserves a chance like this, it's him."
The Ben Howard Appeal is being supported by traders in Oakhill and teachers at Ben's former school, Oakhill Primary School.
As well as raffles and collections, belly dancing troupe The Trent Tribals has agreed to raise money around the city.
Can we not arrange an Occasionals for this lad?
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Post by StokieSC on Dec 11, 2007 15:10:39 GMT
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