Melissa’s Fighting Fund
Welcome
Thank you for visiting the Melissa Huggins Fighting Fund.
As most family and friends visiting this site will know, Melissa was re-diagnosed with a Grade 3 Anaplastic Ependymoma Brain Tumour in October 2008. In December 2008, Melissa discovered that her tumour had spread to the base of her spine.
The following pages provide more information about Melissa and her appeal. Our challenge was to raise £250,000 to send Melissa to the United States of America to treat her rare Ependymoma Brain Tumour with Proton Therapy. This included 60 minutes of Proton Therapy treatment every day for 6-8 weeks, plus any other expenses such as MRI scans, CT scans, proton planning, consultations, assessments and medication.
Melissa travelled to America on 13 January 2009 for an initial consultation and assessment with her new doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Proton Therapy treatment commenced on 9 February 2009 and Melissa returned home to her family and friends on 28 March 2009.
Melissa will now be undergoing chemotherapy treatment at Charing Cross Hospital in London to continue her fight against her brain tumour and spine tumour. Melissa will also be returning to Boston in the summer to obtain results from her Proton Therapy treatment.
PLEASE CHECK BACK REGULARLY FOR NEWS, UPDATES, EVENTS AND FUNDRAISING ACTIVITIES.
If you wish to continue making a contribution to Melissa’s Fighting Fund, please click DONATE
Melissa and her family would also like to say a big thank you to Matt Conby for putting this website together. This wouldn’t have been possible without you!
--------------------------------------------------------
It is important for us to re-iterate that if we continue to exceed the final cost of Melissa's medical treatment, this money will be donated to individual cases, the support of research into brain tumours or funding into advanced brain tumour treatment in the UK. All money donated to Melissa’s Fighting Fund will be for Melissa’s treatment only.
