A generous donation from the Robbie Anderson Cancer Trust allows children with cancer to live a life outside of the hospital

At the age of two and a half Sophie Miles received a leukaemia diagnosis. Devastatingly in April 2019, she relapsed and didn’t respond to chemotherapy treatment and a bone marrow transplant was her only hope.

Whilst Sophie waited for her transplant, she was prescribed a treatment called Blinatumomab – currently the only cancer fighting treatment amongst children that can be carried out away from the hospital. This is possible thanks to a portable device called an infusion pump.

Because of the infusion pump, Sophie was able to receive treatment outside of the hospital and attend school

Sophie’s mum Nikki speaks very highly of the device:

“Sophie could carry the pump around in a little black bag that she’d have over her shoulder. It worked on AA batteries and was really easy to maintain. Only once did the alarm go off and it was really easy to fix. It really gave her a sense of normality as she would only need to go into hospital twice a week to change the medication infusion.”

Before this device, all children with cancer would spend long periods of time in Ward 27 receiving their treatment. For the patients on Blinatumomab, there was the option to be treated at home, but there weren’t any pumps purely for the children on the Ward.

Ward Sister, Jennifer Sneller, says:

“The situation wasn’t ideal. We needed to borrow pumps from the Adult Bone Marrow Unit, which involved a lot of coordination between teams and there was the risk that their patients needed to use them at the same time.”

Thanks to the generous donation from the Robbie Anderson Cancer Trust two infusion pumps now belong to the Ward for children like Sophie

The Trust was set up in December 2005 by the late 13-year-old Robbie to improve the quality of life for young people, like him, spending long periods of time on the children’s cancer ward. His parents Fiona and Kevin run the Trust which raises funds through donations and an annual rugby tournament which is returning in July 2022.

Kevin and Fiona Anderson were delighted to hear that the money raised has made such a difference for children like Sophie. They would love to thank the organisers of a rugby tournament – Alicia James and Georgie Fowle, for their support of the Robbie Anderson Cancer Trust for over ten years.

Sophie received her bone marrow transplant in September 2019 and is now doing well

Her mum Nikki was so grateful that more children like Sophie will have the chance to get on with life.

“Because of the pump, Sophie could play with her brother Harry in the garden with our pet rabbit Thumper. It allowed us to be a family together,” says Nikki.

Ward Sister, Jennifer Sneller, explained that the infusion pumps help children with cancer receive Blinatumomab at home but they have many potential uses for the future.

“Not only could the pumps allow us to administer total parenteral nutrition (TPN), where nutrition is given into the patients’ veins, but there is ongoing research into whether another drug called Methotrexate can be delivered outside of the hospital via an infusion pump too.”