South London mother who had four miscarriages ‘may not see only daughter reach third birthday’ unless she is given life-saving transplant

Esme Handley
Handley Family GoFundMe
Olivia Tobin1 May 2019

A south London mother who had four miscarriages is in a desperate bid to raise £500,000 to save her only child, who has leukaemia.

Rebecca Handley, 38, and her husband Will, from West Norwood, are appealing for help to fund treatment for their two-year-old daughter Esme, who was diagnosed with high risk acute myeloid leukaemia last year.

Mr Handley told the Standard they have "no guarantees" that their daughter will see her third birthday, unless she is given a life-saving transplant.

Following six months of recovery, in April the couple were given the news that the leukaemia has returned to Esme's bone marrow.

The couple are now trying to raise the huge sum for treatment.

Rebecca Handley, Esme Handley and Will Handey last July

The toddler was diagnosed when she was just 22-months-old after developing a large bruise from a fall on a family holiday to Greece.

Following a stem cell transplant in September 2018 and three rounds of intense chemotherapy the two-year-old made a strong recovery, but after only six months of being in good health her leukaemia returned.

The family are no longer eligible for a second transplant on the NHS and now must raise a staggering half a million pounds to fund urgent treatment.

Speaking to the Standard, Esme's father, Will Handley, 43, said he “couldn’t eat or sleep” after he was told Esme’s cancer had returned.

Mr Handley said Esme is "obsessed with lions"

He said: “It’s devastating, it’s feels the same as hearing the first diagnosis, but different, it feels worse. When you’re told the first time, you have hope to go through it all.

“And then to be told it’s come back is the worst thing. You can’t eat, you can’t sleep, you can’t function”.

Esme is the couple's only child after Mrs Handley suffered four miscarriages and three operations to have their daughter.

Mr Handley explained the couple first found out Esme was ill during a family holiday to Greece, in June 2018.

Esme was first diagnosed when she was one-year-old

He said: “The day before we flew, Esme had taken a tumble and we were becoming alarmed at the disproportionate size of the bruising that followed.

“In hindsight this followed a pattern of ‘easy bruising’ and on our first night, instead of relaxing over a bottle of wine, we began a Google search that ended in a cold sweat for the both of us.

“On our second day in Greece we booked a doctor-on-demand Skype call and found ourselves falling through a series of trap doors from the resort doctor’s to blood tests at a regional hospital and the irreversible moment in time we were taken into the office of a Paediatric Consultant and heard the word ‘leukaemia’.

“We spent our second night in tears and in a Greek hospital with Esme on a drip next to us. On what should have been our third day on holiday we took emergency flights back to London.

The family have raised more than £100k so far

“In my hand luggage I carried a hypodermic needle, an adrenaline shot and an oxygen mask kit given to me in case Esme showed any further reaction to the platelets transfusion she’d been given that morning to be ‘fit to fly’.”

On Esme’s return to the UK, she spent five months as an in-patient at the Royal Marsden Hospital, receiving chemotherapy.

Mr Handley said Esme has been a “trooper” through all the treatment, adding the toddler has been “hard as nails”.

After seeking the advice of several leading, global consultants that specialise in high risk AML, Mr and Mrs Handley have now been told that Esme's best chance of cure is a second stem cell transplant, as soon as possible.

The family on holiday in Greece

The family must now try to raise cash in order to fund the treatment, though. Mr Handley said: “Sadly the reality is now without help, we have no guarantees she will she her third birthday.”

The couple have raised more than £100k in their efforts so far. Their GoFundMe page can be viewed here.

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