Ottilie Rushby, a one-year-old from Hilton, Derbyshire, has been diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer, after her parents initially thought a lump on her head was a bruise from playing. The lump did not fade after two weeks, prompting a GP visit that led to a same-day CT scan and urgent referral to Nottingham Queens Medical Centre.
Diagnosis and Treatment
James and Sophie Rushby, Ottilie's parents, were told the tumour had spread from her kidney through bone marrow to her spine and skull. The cancer, which affects approximately 83 children in the UK each year, has a survival rate of 30 to 50 per cent for high-risk cases. Ottilie has begun a 70-day chemotherapy plan, with seven rounds of treatment, followed by surgery, stem cell transplant, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy over 18 months.
James Rushby, a tennis teacher, said: “It was world-shattering to hear she had a tumour. We couldn’t speak or think about it for the first week without crying, we’re both broken and shattered. What's hard is that she was and still is playing normally, she's like a normal little girl.”
Family's Fundraising Efforts
The family is raising £300,000 for an experimental vaccine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, which targets GD2L and GD3L proteins on neuroblastoma cells to prevent relapse. According to Neuroblastoma UK, high-risk neuroblastoma has a 50 per cent chance of relapse, with survival dropping to 20 per cent if relapse occurs.
James added: “In an ideal world the chemotherapy will shrink every bit of cancer she has. But neuroblastoma has an over 50 per cent chance of relapse. The vaccine in America is to stop relapse. We want to get over there and start the vaccine treatment.”
Community Support
As of July 2026, the family has raised over £50,000, with nearly 2,000 donors contributing. James said: “We’ve had so much support. We’ve got 10 or 12 fundraising ideas in the pipeline. I think we’ve cried enough to fill a lifetime. It‘s hard to put into words how hard it is for her and how well she’s done. But we hope this will make a difference.”
