A fair question and more than happy to provide an update.
First of all, as you might expect, the fund raising activities have slowed down and money now trickles in slowly. However, that is not unexpected, and neither is it a bad thing, since the fund is sitting at almost £850,000. All of this has been raised by ordinary people such as those here on PPRuNe. That sum of money is immense in any ones terms and has far exceeded the expectations of the family and the friends involved in the organisation of the appeal.
A big THANK YOU to everyone who has donated or made an effort to assist.
That money is held by the charity and is solely used for medical expenses, as mentioned before. In the event that Vanessa does not require the full amount, anything extra is held in a ringfenced charity account for a time period, and after that is released either to the charity central funds or to another child's individual appeal. Not one penny is wasted or goes anywhere except towards medical expenses.
In terms of treatment, Vanessa attended hospital in London during most of May, receiving radiotherapy treatment. This went well and her 'hot spots' were much reduced, preparing her for further expensive treatment abroad. Whilst this was going on, her parents visited doctors in Germany who have been trying a new procedure which uses 'stem cells' to replace the damaged ones in the patients body. Although relatively new, the success rate has so far been very favourable and currently at a much higher rate of success than treatments available in the USA, albeit the sample rate is still very small in comparison. After discussions in Germany and advice from medical consultants in the UK, the family have decided to try Vanessa with treatment in Germany in the first instance. Travel and medical costs will of course be lower, but the decision has been made on medical grounds and not those of cost. They are gearing up for Vanessa to commence this treatment in Germany, commencing in August 2012. Whilst everyone hopes this treatment will be a complete success, doing it this way does not remove the possibility of attending further treatment in the USA (which uses a different method of treatment) should things not turn out as well as hoped. For that reason, the sum of £850K raised may indeed ALL be required to help save Vanessa.
Although her treatment has been completed for now, pending the trips to Germany, she has still not had an easy time. After London, all her antibodies and immunities had been destroyed and she picked up a serious infection which her body was unable to fight. This resulted in her being rushed to hospital in Glasgow, where she had a particularly severe reaction to the anti-biotics and drugs being used to treat her and was very seriously ill as a result. Fortunately, the medical staff were able to stabilise her and treat her over a week to kill all infection and get her fit again, but it was very scary for the family at the time.
Since then, Vanessa has continued to be a happy smiling 12 year old, taking part in many events with her schoolfriends and family.
If she can have another month or so without complications, the next battle with her disease will take place in Germany, where real progress can potentialy be made.
Thanks for the continued interest. The family are happy to answer questions, as best they can, at any time you have them.