Fundraising bid for brave Isla Austin approaching £100k

Isla Austin has been fighting cancer for more than a year and her family launched the fundraising push in a bid to pay for experimental treatment.

Two-year-old Isla has been diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma, and her family are looking to raise £155,000 for the treatment in America.

They have raised £95,000 so far from a JustGiving page and various other donations.

Dudley North MP Mr Austin, who is no relation to Isla and her family, is the latest public figure to back the fundraising campaign.

He tweeted: "Two-year-old Isla has been fighting cancer for more than a year now. Help her access the treatment she needs by donating online."

Since being diagnosed on her first birthday, Isla has undergone treatment including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, a stem cell transplant, a seven and a half hour surgery and immunotherapy.

Her parents Rick and Anna have organised for Isla to access a 'bivalent vaccine' clinical trial at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, in the hope it will help prevent the cancer returning.

The £155,000 they need to raise will cover the cost of the treatment, associated costs including travel and accommodation, and ensure a contingency fund for any unforeseen complications while overseas.

Isla's mother Anna, 37, who attended Dormston School in Sedgley, had to quit her job to help as Isla has regular trips to Great Ormond Street Hospital.

She said: "We're over £90,000 now and around £95,000 in total.

"It's phenomenal really, absolutely phenomenal.

"We're all overwhelmed by it and the momentum is still going –it's not stopped and actually the fundraising has only just started.

"There are a lot of events still to happen, we've got so much more planned in the coming days and weeks.

"We've got friends and family all over the country and abroad, and everyone is behind it.

"I think everyone is doing everything they can. It's so heartwarming that there are so many good people out there, especially in the current climate.

"With so much negativity in the world it's absolutely fantastic everyone is doing this – we can't thank people enough.

"It's staggering really and hard to take it all in."

At Wolves home fixture against Sheffield United, there will be a bucket collection at Molineux to raise money for Isla.

While Isla is currently in remission from cancer, youngsters with neuroblastoma – the same disease which young Sunderland fan Bradley Lowery suffered from – have a 50 per cent chance of a relapse, and relapsed neuroblastoma has a less than one in 10 chance of survival.

Former Wolves keeper Matt Murray is a friend of Isla's family and has also backed the appeal.

Murray, 36, lodged with Anna’s aunt and uncle Jan and Peter Morris from 1997 to 2003 in Penn, during his early career with Wolves.

To donate visit the Just Giving page.