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Hastings family fear son's life-saving cancer treatment blocked by lockdown restrictions

The family of a boy suffering from a rare form of cancer fear his life is on the line amid coronavirus lockdown restrictions. Time is running out for Denny Nassy, who will imminently need life-saving treatment that is only available in America, Australia, and Germany. The seven-year-old from Hastings has been battling acute lymphoblastic leukaemia since the age of three; he has gone through periods of heavy chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, remission, and he has relapsed. There is one treatment that could help Denny, but it is not available for his illness on the NHS. The family have almost reached their fundraising goal of £500,000 to get the CAR-T therapy - currently their JustGiving page sits at nearly £450,000. However, travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic mean that they will not be able to travel. A family friend has set up a petition  to 'beg' the government to intervene and get Denny to the U.S., or allow him to access the treatment here. Amy Collins said: "I’m a family friend of Denny, they are heartbroken.  "Denny may only have weeks to live without this treatment.  "They’ve been crowdfunding with the community and raised over £410,000 for the treatment. "The therapy could be done in the U.K.,but it hasn’t been approved for Denny’s type of cancer (CD22). "All of Denny's specialists supported the decision to try to get CAR-T therapy, and given the pandemic, exceptions should be made." His mother, Marie-Anne Cornelius, said after three weeks of trialling a new drug at the Royal Marsden he became too sick to continue, but his recent bone marrow results have more than halved, showing just 10 per cent. Once they get the percentage down more Denny can undergo the treatment, as long as the family have the funds and the means of getting to where they need to be. There are number fundraisers, clothing and accessories being sold to make money for them; but recent social-distancing rules have meant a lot of events have been cancelled. More Radio is continuously dedicated to providing a quality news service on-air and online, reporting local stories that matter across Sussex. If you found this story useful, then check out our home page at moreradio.online where you can find the latest from the county, along with features and competitions from our presenters, as well as listening to the station live. You can also sign up to our news alerts to receive updates on new stories. Simply click on the bell at the bottom right of the home page. This will then allow a pop-up which will ask if you would like to receive alerts. Press ‘allow’ and you’re all signed up! You can also follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.  

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