An estate agent and his wife have launched an urgent appeal in an attempt to save the life of their two-year-old daughter Florence. The appeal has met with an extraordinary response from kind-hearted strangers within just two days.
Florence has a rare cancer and was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma just over a year ago, when she was 16 months old.
Doctors in this country continue to persevere but the situation is grim after the family were told her cancer is inoperable.
However her father Rodney Jackson, a negotiator at Proctors in West Wickham, Kent, and his wife Carolyn are refusing to give up.
In their race against time, the couple have found a neuroblastoma surgeon in New York, and have now launched an appeal on Just Giving to raise the £250,000 needed in order to take Florence to America and have an operation.
By yesterday, within two days of the appeal being launched, some £85,000 had been raised, with contributions from over 3,600 people – most of them complete strangers moved by the family’s plight. Astonishingly, this morning the appeal had brought in nearly £107,000 from over 4,600 people.
Since her diagnosis, Florence has been treated at the Royal Marsden.
The toddler has had 20 rounds of chemotherapy, major surgery, a stem cell transplant and five weeks of radiotherapy, topped off with immunotherapy which should have finished her treatment.
“Sadly our hopes that Florence could soon start enjoying a life free of cancer were cruelly dashed in November,” the couple write on Just Giving.
“A routine CT scan showed that the tumour was growing again, despite everything that had been thrown at it.
“And a recent follow-up scan in January has shown that the tumour has spread into her stomach and has wrapped around her blood vessels.
“As a result the doctors have told us the tumour is too dangerous to remove and there’s nothing more they can do.
“But we can. And we will. We owe it to Florence to fight on, just as she is bravely doing. But we have to act fast.”
The couple say that the surgeon they have found in New York has “a fantastic” record of successfully treating cases similar to Florence’s – “cases that other doctors have given up hope on”.
Dad Rodney is currently on leave from work. His supportive employer last year marked its 70th anniversary by donating £70 to the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity for every property instruction it received for 70 days.
This is the story that puts everything else into perspective.
If any kind EYE reader would like to donate to the Jackson family’s new appeal – and the family stress that donations both large and small will be incredibly welcome and could make all the difference – they can do so here:
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/Flosfight
No one should suffer like this, let alone a young girl. My next few bottles of wine and meal out have been pout on hold. I am sure I will survive.
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Wouldn’t it be lovely if instead of moaning about Purple Bricks, letting fees or OTM that the agents who read PIE contributed something meaningful to something really meaningful…..like this little girls plight. Best of luck to Rodney and Carolyn with your fundraising efforts and prayers and good wishes to Florence.
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Its because purplebricks slander agents all the time. Estate Agents are real people with real problems. People feel the need to compartmentalise. Not sure if its media fault or genuine ignorancy.
Bet purplebricks or phillip Hammond wont be showing this next to their fakenews headlines when they next try to villanise our industry for cheap votes .
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‘This is the story that puts everything else into perspective.’
So true…
Beautiful little girl who is suffering horribly but being so brave.
It never fails to amaze me the generosity of complete strangers. Work hard and do lots of good. Your life will be filled with happiness.
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…don’t forget to share the Just Giving page on your Facebook profiles!
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I have just donated. come everybody, put your hand in your pocket. No child should have to go through this. (or parent for that matter)
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What a gorgeous picture of Florence. It’s heartbreaking her and her parents having to face this. As the father of two daughters myself I will be giving something….and I have an idea to raise the profile further on PIE to help….but would like to run it past Rodney, Carolyn, and Ros first for their permission.
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Done ,and clearly an amazing cause
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Best of luck, donated and shared on facebook to try and encourage others.
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My whole outlook for today has changed reading this, such an immensley brave little girl. Donated and shared. I wish you all the best of luck.
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Ditto. Come on RM, Z, OTM and others. This is a cause that many of your paying members would surely not mind you donating too?
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This story has touched hearts and every one of us who is a parent is profoundly moved by it. There will be a further story on this tomorrow and with it we are doing something unique –
We are making tomorrow #FlorenceDay on EYE.
We want every reader who comes to the site during Friday to donate a minimum of £5 to the crowdfunding effort for little Florence.
When you see the tweets with the #FlorenceDay hashtag please do your bit by retweeting. Get the link to the story onto your Facebook pages. Email the link to your address book.
Time is not on Florence’s side. We need to act and we need to act NOW!
Help us to make #FlorenceDay a fantastic example of the generosity of the industry.
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Absolutely!!
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