About the 2Little2Late Lottery
The 2Little2Late Lottery is a raffle set up to raise funds for a charity called Neuroblastoma Australia. Neuroblastoma Australia is one of Australia’s leading drivers of research into a childhood cancer known as neuroblastoma. This disease takes the lives of more children under the age of 5 than any other cancer, and treatments for it, if successful, can often have long-term side effects.
The name 2Little2Late is derived from the statistic that the average age of diagnosis for neuroblastoma is 2 years old (2Little), and due to the symptoms of the disease being difficult to identify, quite often the diagnosis does not come soon enough (2late).
Sadly, government and pharmaceutical funding for neuroblastoma research is very minimal and hardly scratches the surface of what needs to be done to find a cure.
The 2Little2Late Lottery was created to help raise much-needed funds for research into treatments for neuroblastoma. The goal is to reach a 100% survival rate for all children diagnosed with this disease, so that they may grow up to live long and healthy lives. As an added benefit, this lottery provides us with a chance to give back to some of the amazing supporters who are willing to contribute to this amazing cause.
Thank you so much to everyone who has purchased tickets, donated, or spread awareness to support Neuroblastoma Australia.
About Neuroblastoma
Neuroblastoma is the most common solid tumour of childhood affecting babies and toddlers. It occurs from embryonic nerve cells which don’t mature correctly. It mainly presents as a solid tumour in the abdominen but can develop anywhere along the sympathetic nervous system. It is a rare cancer affecting around 50 children in Australia each year and it is not known why some children develop this disease.
Neuroblastoma is a very complex cancer with various types that behave differently. While some tumours are benign and may resolve spontaneously, aggressive forms of neuroblastoma are considered ‘high-risk’ and have a survival rate of only 50%.
The symptoms often do not become apparent until the tumour reaches a certain size, even then the signs can be subtle. As the symptoms can also be representative of other diseases and as the children affected are often so young, diagnosis often is made when the disease has already spread, making it far more difficult to cure and sadly, treatment can be too late.
Treating Neuroblastoma
Like other forms of cancer, treatments for neuroblastoma can require invasive surgeries and operations that can be incredibly confronting for a young child. The type of treatment the child will receive depends on a range of different factors. Treatments can include:
- Surgery to remove all or part of the cancer
- Chemotherapy
- Radiation Therapy
- Stem Cell Transplants
While undergoing treatment, the child will need to be closely monitored and observed. These treatments can be very intense for a young child and can cause long-term side effects…and sadly survival rates in aggressive cases of neuroblastoma are only 1 in 2.
This is why YOUR help is needed…one of the goals of Neuroblastoma Australia is to research more effective and less toxic treatments for children diagnosed with this disease.
Your Help is Needed
Currently, neuroblastoma takes the lives of more children under five than any other cancer…despite this, government funding for research into this disease is very minimal.
This is why Neuroblastoma Australia does the amazing work they do to raise money to research treatments for neuroblastoma. The goal is to reach a survival rate of 100% making the disease completely treatable, and hopefully preventable.
Your contributions go a very long way…even if it is just a few dollars, every little bit provides more resources towards this vital research!
Lucy’s Story
Lucy was a seemingly healthy 5-year-old girl getting ready to start school when she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma…her mother shared her story with us.
Lucy’s parents had noticed a strange set of bruises appear around Lucy’s eyes. As a similar set of bruises had appeared about a month earlier, they decided to consult their local GP for medical advice.
While the GP was not too concerned over the bruises and the occasional stomach ache, he decided to take a blood test just to be safe. Just hours later, Lucy’s parents would receive a call informing them of her low haemoglobin count and need to further investigate. The next morning Lucy and her parents found themselves at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne where they were admitted and Lucy underwent various tests.
“Following a chest x-ray and ultrasound we quickly moved under oncology care and were delivered the unexpected and gut-wrenching diagnosis of neuroblastoma. A cancer we had never even heard of until that day. ” – Kirsty, Lucy’s mum
The tests confirmed the diagnosis of stage 4, high-risk neuroblastoma with a large tumour in her chest and abdominal cavity, which was wrapped around her heart, vena cava, kidney and liver. The disease had spread into her bone marrow and throughout her body. Lucy had to start treatment immediately. Over the space of eight days, Lucy went from living a normal life to undergoing a bone marrow aspirate, ovary preservation surgery and Hickman Line insertion before her first round of chemotherapy.
“At a time when we should be celebrating Lucy starting school with her friends we were instead learning a new world of cancer protocols and trying to juggle a life of hospital stays, work and supporting our son, Hunter. ” – Kirsty, Lucy’s mum
Lucy’s treatment plan consisted of five chemo rounds, a major surgery to remove the tumour, a tandem stem cell transplant, radiation, and immunotherapy. Her treatment was expected to last around 18 months, although the family was advised to expect delays and to prepare for up to two years of treatment.
Over the next few months, although Lucy was coping well with chemotherapy, she was experiencing intense procedure anxiety. This meant that anything even slightly invasive, including weekly dressing changes, had to be done under general anaesthetic, which would only add to the stress felt by Lucy and her loved ones.
Scans following the first four rounds of chemo showed that Lucy had responded ‘perfectly’ to the initial treatment with just a small tumour remaining off her adrenal gland. A 9-hour surgery and ICU stay came next to remove the remaining tumour and the non-active calcified tumours on her organs. Following this, Lucy and her family received the amazing news that Lucy was now effectively cancer-free.
After recovering from surgery, Lucy underwent a fifth round of chemo and began preparation for a tandem stem cell transplant.
“The first stem cell transplant resulted in a 6-week stay in hospital with Lucy extremely unwell. A diagnosis of severe VOD (veno-occlusive disease) resulted in a stay in ICU due to a swollen abdomen and fluid on her lungs causing breathing difficulties. Lucy spent her 6th birthday in the ICU ward.” – Nick, Lucy’s dad
While she recovered well from these complications, a decision was made by her team to break protocol and skip the second transplant as they did not know if she would survive, should it go ahead. Luckily there were no ongoing issues and Lucy was able to finish the rest of her treatment as planned; 12 rounds of radiation, followed by 6 rounds of immunotherapy.
Fourteen months after first stepping into the Royal Children’s Hospital, Lucy’s final in-treatment scans showed she was still cancer-free and officially in remission.
It has now been over 16 months since those final scans and Lucy is doing well and living life like a normal 8-year-old girl. She’s playing netball, attending gymnastics classes, going to school, and loving life.
“But, like every child who goes through neuroblastoma treatment, there is a long list of possible long term side effects from the brutal treatments required to fight this disease that may show in later years. These are on top of the already diagnosed high frequency hearing loss. The chance of relapse never really goes away” – Kirsty, Lucy’s mum
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Draw Closes: 28th of June, 2024
Winner Drawn: 30th of June, 2024
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