A Bournemouth businessman climbed Mount Kilimanjaro for an eight-year-old girl’s life-changing stem cell treatment.
James Tucker, CEO of a financial-tech company, climbed the highest mountain in Africa to raise money for a family friend’s daughter who needs major medical treatment.
Macey-Mai Fennel, eight, suffers from NF1 (neurofibromatosis type 1), a condition that causes tumours to grow along her nerves.
The tumours are usually non-cancerous but can cause problems with the nervous system, bones and eyes.
Macey-Mai, who also has ASD (autism spectrum disorder), is unfortunately not eligible to receive the treatment on the NHS or privately in the UK.
Mum, Claire Fennel a healthcare worker, said: "For the past four to five years, we have spent a lot of time at the hospital with follow-up appointments, six monthly MRI scans and three-monthly checkups.
“Our daughter has made good progress and continues to make progress, but unfortunately, a lot of her traits from her autism affect her ability to fulfil her potential and develop independent living skills.
“We have been very blessed so far that Macey-Mai has not needed chemotherapy, but we would like for her to have stem-cell treatment.
“Stem cell treatment has been known to help children with autism significantly improve adaptive and cognitive functioning.
“This is something we have also witnessed first-hand when we recently met up with a family whose little boy had this treatment.
“It’s not open to us on the NHS or privately in the UK, and we could never afford this alone.
“It is never easy to ask others for help, but we are so desperate to see our little girl blossom into all that she can be."
When signing up to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, James said he knew he wanted to do the trek to raise money for Macey-Mai’s treatment.
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James was able to raise £1,885 and Twenty7tec, the company he works for, matched every donation that was received.
He said: “Macey-Mai’s family is a friend of Twenty7tec, and when I signed up to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, I knew that I wanted to do the trek to raise money for her treatment.
“Climbing Killamanjaro was at some points very tough.
“We battled altitude sickness and barely had any sleep.
“But it was worth it for two reasons, one being, of course, the money I’ve raised for Macey-Mai, knowing how life-changing this treatment could be for her and the other being that the scenery and experience itself was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far.
“I know how much this means to Macey-Mai’s family, and I know we will help them reach their target to have the treatment to help improve her life.”
Donations towards Macey-Mai’s treatment can be made through the GoFundMe titled ‘Macey-Mai's stem cell treatment’.
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