Thank You Uncle Sam

[Canary42]

Some heartwarming good news - a rarity here on Answerbank.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-47507277

[Sqad]

Indeed Canary.......good news indeed, i hope that he will be alive and well in 10 years.

[Lie-in King]

That's lovely, what a good result - ta Canary :-)

[Mamyalynne]

Looking good for Zac and his family , full credit to the medics and the donors.

[Spicerack]

Good luck to him.
Not sure Uncle Sam deserves the thanks.

[naomi24]

Excellent!

[hc4361]

That is good news :D

[Ken4155]

Superb news for all concerned.

[mushroom25]

good news he's in remission. but stories like this highlight one of the difficulties for a "free at point of use" health service - namely the development of new but highly expensive treatments (the family needed half a million pounds to realise this treatment) affording the ability to save small percentages of patients whose life expectancy was previously very limited. healthcare for the very sick shouldn't be rationed by price but where do you draw the balancing line between using half a million to save one child, or using it to improve the lives af "the many"?

[Gromit]

Thank you Simon Cowel who gave £50,000 and £100,000 from a mystery donor. As well as the thousands of others who donated smaller amounts.

Not sure why Uncle Sam should be thanked for taking the £500,000.

[New Judge]

"Not sure why Uncle Sam should be thanked for taking the £500,000."

Because that country provided the circumstances under which the R&D necessary to provide such a facility could be provided. Such research cannot take place in the UK because of its obsession with its "Jewel in the Crown", the NHS. Private development and provision is looked upon as almost a criminal offence and those taking advantage of it are looked upon as pariahs who seek to destroy "free" healthcare. Uncle Sam deserves some thanks because without the regime encouraged by its government Zac would almost certainly not have been cured. This country could not or would not provide the treatment but a facility in the USA would - and strange as it may seem, they won't do it for nothing.

[marval]

Good news indeed, hope Zac keeps well.

Well done to all who gave money, and to the medical team.

[Peter Pedant]

and the reason why he didnt get it here is:

At present, there is no data to support the use of this CAR T therapy in children and it is not licenced for such use.

(https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Axicabtagene-Ciloleucel-Chimeric-Antigen-Receptor-T-Cell-CAR-T-Therapy-for-the-treatment-of-adult-patients-wit.pdf)

anyway good news for the little mite and well done all donors

[Peter Pedant]

// Such research cannot take place in the UK because of its obsession with its "Jewel in the Crown"//

can posters read back to themselves what they write please ?

8 Sep 2015 - CRUK's annual report. Cancer Research UK's income increased by £31m last year to £621m, according to the charity's latest annual report.

half a billion buys quite a lot of research

I dont know why people write these things .....

[Patsy33]

Lovely news!

[Baldric]

PPs link, hopefully readable edition

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Axicabtagene-Ciloleucel-Chimeric-Antigen-Receptor-T-Cell-CAR-T-Therapy-for-the-treatment-of-adult-patients-wit.pdf

[Baldric]

Well that ^^ wasn't worth the effort.

[Peter Pedant]

but thank you for trying

it is a bit of a Big Read - part of the criticism is that the american series of cases are younger ( no kids) than those seen in the UK - and so it is possible they are treating sooner, patients who are therefore fitter, and er more likely to survive

trying to think of expensive things that didnt work
artificial skin in the eighties for burns ....
oh, opening the chest in severe car injuries ( not stabbings- it CAN work) - san francisco reported 20% walked out alive and no one cd get anyone to survive !

[Peter Pedant]

oh and pulmonary artery catheters - huge billion dollar industry in the land that does all the research. The land of the Free that is! but not the Land of the Free Health Care!!

Billions of dollars are spent on the latest PACs in the US - but do they work?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29555415
says no
not much used in the UK

[New Judge]

"...half a billion buys quite a lot of research"

Indeed Peter. Money provided by charity because that's what cancer research (and many other things) depends upon in the world's fifth (or is it fourth?) largest economy. I always read my posts back before posting them and my point remains - the sort of developments in healthcare that originate in the US would not be countenanced here because of the cost. And that problems stems from the quasi-religious obsession that the NHS with its "free-at-the-point-of-delivery" (to all-comers) mantra.

[naomi24]

//the sort of developments in healthcare that originate in the US would not be countenanced here because of the cost.//

I think that might be the point that Canary is surreptitiously making … but more likely he is aiming at politics.