Kind-hearted youngsters raise more than £700 for Flora Gentleman

Flora Gentleman was diagnosed with neuroblastoma – a form of cancer that affects children, mostly under the age of five – when she was just two years old.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of pounds have been raised to help cover the cost of her treatment, some of which has taken place in the USA.

Further funds are being raised to help the youngster, who lives in Haddington, to travel back to America once her NHS treatment ends.

Ruari Dannfald, Nairn Campbell, Alex Rashdan and Jessica Gray, all from Longniddry, chose to hold a bake sale to help Flora after one of them read about the fundraising idea in a book called Kindness.

Supported by Longniddry Villa Football Club, where the boys are members, the bake sale took place late last month and proved incredibly popular, selling out in just over an hour.

Together, the children raised £765 for Flora.

Generous youngsters have raised money through a bake sale in aid of Flora Gentleman

The parents of Nairn, Ruari, Alex and Jess said: “We are so grateful to everyone that supported the children’s fundraising efforts, from helping with baking to coming along on the day to buy some of the amazing cakes, as well as Longniddry Villa who kindly hosted us.

“We cannot imagine the reality of what Flora and her family have to go through on a daily basis and are very proud that our children have chosen to help them in their own way.”

The bake sale was not the first time that Ruari has supported Flora’s fundraising.

Two years ago, having cycled from his home in Longniddry to his then nursery in Haddington, he raised nearly £4,000.

Since then, the family have followed Flora’s journey and felt compelled to support her once again after she relapsed.

Flora’s mum Stephanie was thankful for the support.

She said: “It is really nice to see other people doing it.

“It takes a lot off of us and gives us space and time with Flora to do fun things.

“We are so grateful.”

READ MORE: Family 'devastated' after Flora's cancer returns

In early 2021, after several hospital appointments, Flora was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

In the months that followed, Flora was not herself and her parents were given the devastating news that she had high-risk neuroblastoma, which has a 40-50 per cent chance of long-term survival at diagnosis.

Flora’s family appealed for help to raise £252,000 so Flora could enrol on the bivalent vaccine clinical trial in New York after frontline treatment, with the aim of keeping the cancer away.

Her end-of-treatment scans in August 2022 showed that Flora had no evidence of active disease, which meant she was eligible for the trial, and she started the trial the following month.

Sadly, scans 12 months later showed that Flora’s cancer had returned.

Since then, Flora has restarted NHS treatment and undergone two cycles of a chemotherapy and immunotherapy combination.

A fundraising campaign has been launched to pay for a vaccine trial to help five-year-old Flora Gentleman in her fight against cancer

Stephanie said: “She is doing really well.

“We had a rough month, just as each cycle of treatment is going on it takes longer to recover.

“She has had seven months of chemotherapy and it is starting to really take its toll on her body.”

In total, Flora’s incredible supporters raised £305,000 during her previous fundraising campaign, of which £147,000 remained as the total available funds that will go towards any further treatment Flora may need outside the NHS.

To make a donation to Flora’s fundraising campaign, go to solvingkidscancer.org.uk/children/flora