How Eden’s Army are helping to fundraise for six-year-old in cancer fight

An army of fundraisers has formed to support treatment for six-year-old Eden Smith after she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. Laura Reid speaks to her family.

When an army of walkers took to the streets of Huddersfield wearing pink last weekend, it was the smiling face of six-year-old Eden Smith that was their motivation.

Eden was diagnosed with rare and aggressive children’s cancer neuroblastoma in April last year and over the past four months, her family, friends and strangers alike have been raising funds to send her to the US for a revolutionary vaccine treatment that they hope will increase her chances of survival.

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On Saturday, more than 400 members of ‘Eden’s Army’ walked 22 miles past the parks and gardens of Huddersfield in the latest fundraising challenge for the youngster.

Six-year-old Eden Smith, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. Photo: Lee SmithSix-year-old Eden Smith, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. Photo: Lee Smith
Six-year-old Eden Smith, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. Photo: Lee Smith

Already, the Gardens of Eden walk has raised £160,000 and with cash still coming in, it is hoped the event will help push the family closer to their target of raising around £320,000.

“The level of support has just been mind blowing,” says dad Lee. We never thought that so many people would help or offer support…It’s hard to sum up the words, everyday things are ramping up and ramping up.

“We are building an army, Eden’s Army, to raise funds for treatment and also to raise awareness of this rare cancer.”

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Eden Smith with parents Jen and Lee and sister Tia. Photo: Lee SmithEden Smith with parents Jen and Lee and sister Tia. Photo: Lee Smith
Eden Smith with parents Jen and Lee and sister Tia. Photo: Lee Smith
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Eden, who lives in Holmfirth with her family, including big sister Tia, had been complaining of pains in her legs and later became pale and shivery.

After CT and MRI scans, she received her diagnosis at Calderdale Royal Hospital just a month after turning six.

She was transferred to Leeds General Infirmary, where she started her first round of chemotherapy straight away.

“The day we got the news, our world fell apart,” says Eden’s mum Jen. “Our happy, beautiful, polite little girl was being eaten from the inside by this aggressive form of cancer.”

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“The diagnosis was awful,” Lee adds. “It was just devastating and made worse by the fact we were split up at the time because of Covid.

“Certainly for the first seven days, Jen and Eden were in hospital and me and Tia were at home so we couldn’t hug them or anything. It was very lonely, very dark.”

Further testing showed that the cancer was located in seven places around Eden’s body.

She has already had multiple types of chemotherapy and a nine-hour operation and will undergo radiotherapy and immunotherapy over the coming months. Throughout it all, she’s remained upbeat.

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“Eden is full of life, very cheeky and loved by so many people. She loves school, baking and, of course, playing. She has lots of friends, especially her big sister, Tia,” Lee says.

“She’s very bubbly, very outgoing, she’s got a very infectious smile. She’s just a happy six-year-old.

“She’s braver than we are. When you see her throwing up five or six times in a bowl and then wiping her mouth and smiling, you just think wow. It’s certainly more than I could do.”

The family want to have the money raised by July, so that once Eden has finished her frontline treatment in the UK, they can cover the costs of her accessing a clinical trial for the bivalent vaccine over in New York.

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Around half of all neuroblastoma cases are classified as ‘high-risk’ and this is the case with Eden’s cancer.

Charity Solving Kids’ Cancer UK explains how children with high-risk neuroblastoma have a 40 to 50 per cent chance of long term survival, meaning it has one of the lowest survival rates of any childhood cancer.

Around half of children diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma will not respond completely during standard treatment, or the cancer will come back afterwards.

If a child does relapse with neuroblastoma, their chances of long-term survival are less than ten per cent and in many high-risk cases, a cure is no longer possible.

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The bivalent treatment is designed to help people remain clear of the disease once they are in remission.

The family hope it will improve Eden’s chance of survival and reduce the chance of the cancer coming back.

“All we’ve had since day one is bad news,” Lee says. “It’s really hard to treat if it comes back. So we want to get this treatment to improve the chances of it not coming back. It’s life saving and it changes the mood from real doom and gloom to a little bit of hope.”

“Our gorgeous girl deserves to have her future and to live out her dreams,” Jen adds.

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Fundraising efforts for the family first began at the end of October last year.

Lee recalls being “bombarded” with messages and phonecalls from people in local communities wanting to help their cause.

‘Eden’s Army’ was born and around 50 fundraising events took place in November and December alone.

Now, their Facebook group has more than 4,000 members wanting to help.

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The walk last weekend was one of the big events, but many of the family’s supporters are also holding their own fundraising activities.

Coming up at the start of April there’s also a pink ball, and when Eden turns seven next month, the family want to “turn Kirklees pink”.

“We’re trying to get businesses and schools across the district involved for a wear pink day for her birthday,” Lee says.

“The only way I can describe the support is mind blowing, humbling.”

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To donate to Eden’s cause and see how fundraising efforts are going, visit www.solvingkidscancer.org.uk/Appeal/eden or search Eden’s Army on Facebook.

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