Dame Caroline Dinenage continues the campaign to improve child cancer outcomes, by writing to the new Prime Minister and Health Secretary, Therese Coffey MP, to restate the urgent need for a Childhood Cancer Mission and to ensure it includes a commitment for the UK to be at the forefront of developing a vaccine for childhood cancers.
Joining fellow MP for Batley and Spen, Kim Leadbeater, the letter called for Britain to lead a trans-Atlantic effort to develop a vaccine for Neuroblastoma. This high risk form of cancer accounts for 1 in 10 childhood cancer deaths, and often requires families to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds to send their children to New York to receive treatment currently unavailable in the UK.
Caroline’s work on childhood cancer was inspired by her 10 year old constituent, Sophie Fairall, who died last September following a year-long battle with an aggressive cancer, Rhabdomyosarcoma. Caroline has been working alongside Sophie’s mum Charlotte to push for Paediatric Oncology to be at the forefront of Government plans to improve the way we detect, treat and care for cancer patients. A trans-Atlantic study to develop a vaccine for Neuroblastoma would provide an opportunity for the UK to lead the way on childhood cancer treatment.
In the letter, Dame Caroline and Kim Leadbeater said:
“It would offer parents great hope if the government were able to commit in principle to putting the UK at the forefront of this important work.
We believe this would be a clear sign that this government supports that call [for a childhood cancer mission] and is ready to take immediate steps to deliver on it.”
Caroline Dinenage said:
“Having worked closely with Sophie’s mum Charlotte on a campaign to introduce a Childhood Cancer Mission, I implore the government to consider a leading role in development of a neuroblastoma vaccine. Given that one in ten childhood cancer deaths are a result of this horrible illness, it would go a long way to improving childhood cancer outcomes.
Not only this, it would also signal the government’s commitment to support our wider Childhood Cancer Mission in Sophie’s memory, to ensure that outcomes are improved for all children with cancer.”
