Canadian initiative fuelled by Terry Fox’s dream may be only hope for young
VANCOUVER — Seeing children suffering with cancer when he was being treated himself broke Terry Fox’s heart and inspired his Marathon of Hope.
Now, those efforts have fuelled a unique initiative to give kids and young adults across the country a chance to live when there are few, if any, treatment options left.
Eight-year-old Marlow Ploughman of Shannonville, Ont., has relapsed four times and is on a new drug thanks to genetic testing involving a project that brings together collaborators from over 30 pediatric cancer research and funding organizations.
The girl was diagnosed at age 2 1/2 with late-stage rhabdomyosarcoma, or cancer of the soft tissue, such as muscle, after a vine-like tumour was found in her calf, said her mother Tanya Boehm.