‘The odds are stacking against us’

YOUNG TOON FAN BENNY'S FAMILY RAISE FUNDS FOR CANCER TREATMENT IN ROME

- By KRISTY DAWSON

Four-year-old Benny Bahmanizad is battling stage four neuroblastoma

THE parents of a four-year-old boy battling cancer are trying to raise funds for him to undergo what they hope will be lifesaving treatment in Italy.

Benny Bahmanizad was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma when he was two years old.

His parents Nicola, 37, and Daniel, 39, from High Shincliffe, County Durham, rushed him to hospital when they noticed he was limping and struggling to put weight on his left leg.

They were devastated to learn that he had the rare form of cancer.

Benny went into remission after undergoing two years of treatment, which included chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy.

However, in September this year a routine scan revealed that the cancer had returned.

Nicola and Daniel, who are also parents to two-year-old Zara, are now trying to raise the £393,000 needed for him to undergo a type of immunotherapy called CAR T-cell therapy in Rome.

Nearly £29,000 has already been raised on a Just Giving page.

Nicola, who works as a tax adviser, said: “I just feel like our world is imploding around us. The odds are stacking against us even more than they were to begin with.

“There's not a standard procedure for relapse neuroblastoma. It’s much more difficult to know which route to go down, which is why we're looking at CAR T-cell therapy in Rome.

“We think that it might be coming to the UK but it probably won't be in time for Benny. We heard about it through research and we discussed it with our consultant at the hospital.