Arianna's campaign

Arianna is the kindest little girl; she is so thoughtful and considerate of others. She is the one who will always stop and help an injured friend or cuddle a crying sister. She has a heart of gold and loves playing with her three younger sisters, Mya, Zara and Raya.  

In November 2021, Arianna was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma, a rare and aggressive childhood cancer that has a 40-50% chance of long-term survival at diagnosis. 

Over £250,000 has been raised in support of Arianna’s campaign, and the funds raised have enabled the family to fulfil their wishes of enrolling her on the bivalent vaccine clinical trial in New York with the aim of keeping the cancer away. This started in December 2023 after Arianna completed her frontline treatment. 

Arianna’s campaign remains open in case she needs any potentially life-saving treatment in the future not available through the NHS. Follow her story on social media. 

Arianna’s story 

In July 2021 Arianna started to experience slight upper back pain. At the time it was put down to having a new bed. The pain disappeared for a short time but in mid-November Arianna’s symptoms worsened and the pain moved to her lower back. 
 
After going back and forth to the GP and A&E several times, including three times in just one day, on the 19th of November, the family were devastated when doctors discovered a tumour on her kidney. 
 
On the 26th of November, Arianna was officially diagnosed with stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma. Her parents were told the shocking news that her cancer had spread to multiple bones and to her bone marrow. 

Treatment so far 

Arianna started frontline treatment straight away after diagnosis and MIBG scans in February 2022 showed that her disease has reduced significantly after induction chemotherapy. Her SIOPEN score (which represents the extent of disease present in the body) was 34 at diagnosis and had reduced to 21, however she had not cleared enough disease to move onto the next stage of frontline treatment. She went on to have BIT chemotherapy to try to clear the disease further. 

In June 2022, Arianna was accepted onto the MiNivAn clinical trial at the University Hospital at Southampton. This therapy aims to improve the outcomes for children with relapsed or refractory neuroblastoma by combining targeted radiotherapy (I-131 MIBG) with the antibodies anti-GD2 (ch14.18/CHO) and anti-PD1 (Nivolumab). Arianna had several side effects whilst enrolled on this trial including fevers, sickness, fluid retention, increased heart rate and rashes. Routine scans in October showed that the only remaining spot of disease was Arianna’s main tumour, which meant they were discharged from the trial in Southampton and Arianna was able to continue with the standard frontline treatment protocol at Great Ormond Street Hospital. 

She completed high-dose chemotherapy in December 2022 and endured a 6-hour long surgery in January to remove her main tumour, which was successful. Arianna completed radiotherapy and started immunotherapy, which is the final stage of frontline treatment in April 2023.

After completing immunotherapy in October Arianna had end-of-treatment assessment scans in November, two years after she was first diagnosed with neuroblastoma, which came back clear showing Arianna was NED (no evidence of disease). With scans showing Arianna was eligible for the bivalent vaccine clinical trial that her parents were fundraising for, the family travelled to America in December to start the trial. The family will continue to travel to America over the next few years for treatment. 

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_{Solving Kids' Cancer UK's children's fundraising campaigns} 

_{Funds raised will go towards helping Arianna and her family. If Arianna no longer needs the funds or is in remission five years post the end of successful treatment, the funds will be used to support other children and families affected by neuroblastoma through our activities. For children with high-risk neuroblastoma, like Arianna, the survival rate is much lower than other childhood cancers. Upon relapse, this rate reduces even further.}