Mum & Dad’s £1m fundraising bid to save Hallie Reeve battling cancer at 20 months

The family of a toddler diagnosed with a rare cancer during her first holiday abroad are trying to raise over £1 million for life-saving treatment not available on the NHS.

Adorable Hallie Reeve is just 20-months-old but has been battling Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukaemia (JMML) for the past year and has undergone two transplants at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

JMML is a rare type of chronic blood cancer that slowly develops in young children and has a 50 per cent survival rate if caught early. But after her last stem cell transplant failed to work, her family were told their best option would be private treatment abroad as the NHS won’t pay for the procedure.

Parents Jamie Reeve, 34, and Kim Dugdale, 29, are now desperately trying to raise more than a million pounds to pay for CAR T-cell therapy in the United States. It is the same treatment that cured Oscar Saxelby-Lee, the British boy who won the nation’s heart after his leukaemia battle went viral in 2018.

The family’s appeal has even received the backing of former pro footballer and reality star Ashley Cain, who lost his daughter Azaylia to cancer in 2020.

Jamie and Kim, of Coventry, said they first spotted something was wrong with their baby just hours before their holiday flight to Spain in July last year. A doctor advised them it was just heat making Hallie lethargic but when they landed in Spain her condition worsened so they rushed her to Mallaga hospital. Just an hour later they received the shock cancer diagnosis from Spanish medics and Hallie began intensive treatment when she arrived back in the UK the next week.

Hallie has since undergone chemotherapy, blood transfusions as well as two stem cell transplants at Birmingham’s Children’s Hospital - but both transplants have failed. Her parents are urgently fundraising to scrape together cash to fund the expensive therapy only available in America.

Hallie’s auntie Hannah Dugdale, 32, said the treatment was not yet offered by the NHS because it was currently at an experimental stage. Mum-of-two Hannah said: “In July last year she was a little bit poorly. She was taken the doctors and he said she was fine and it was due to the hot weather.

"Jamie and Kim were due to fly to Spain but took her for one last trip to the hospital. And again, they said she was fine. They flew to Spain and she screamed the whole flight. She was lethargic and limp when they landed. I think they checked into their apartment and took her straight to a hospital in Malaga.

"Within an hour they had a leukaemia diagnosis. They had only been in Spain a couple of hours. Hallie was just eight-months-old. She had bruising too, it’s a common symptom. You put it down to crawling. When they were in Spain she was in intensive care for 10 days, she was really quite unwell.

"They weren’t able to sort out treatment plans and were trying to get her fit to fly home. She had a private air ambulance to get her home from Spain. They took her straight to Birmingham Children’s Hospital. She’s had holding chemo to keep her going until she had her first stem cell transplant December of 2022.

“We found out it failed around the February time and then she went back onto chemo to keep the levels down. She had the second stem cell transfer about four weeks ago but we found it failed last week. She’s such a happy little baby, she smiles through everything. She’s just the sweetest little thing.”

The family fear the worst will happen if Hallie isn’t treated in America soon enough as JMML has a 50per cent survival rate. Hannah added: “If she doesn’t get to America the worst will happen so we need this treatment. It takes out T cells from Hallie’s body, they put them in a lab and they train them to search for and kill cancerous cells.

"If she was to grow any more cancer cells they will kill them. After the CAR T-cell therapy, she will have chemo to completely get rid of the bone marrow and the stem cells will replace the bone marrow. I think the NHS have only got it approved for a few types of leukemia but not Hallie’s.”

The family have set up a fundraising page and have hit over £345,000 in just four days thanks to the kindness of strangers. Family, friends and local schools are helping by holding their own fundraising events to raise as much money for Hallie as quickly as they can.

Hannah added: “It’s a huge target, it’s in excess of £1 million. We went live on GoFundMe on Saturday, we’ve already hit £345,000 in just three-and-a-half days. There’s plenty of ways we can help raise the money, we can reach it 100 per cent .

"When you hear you’ve got to raise a million you think how? But we’ve done a quarter already. Our whole wonderful family would do anything for her, there’s so many fundraising activities for her. One of Jamie’s friends is walking from Coventry to Cornwall and one of his colleagues is running an ultra matron.

"There’s a charity football game and some of the local schools have done dress down days and cake sales. Hallie is the sweetest little girl, she’s is so gentle and kind natured, a carbon copy of her mummy, and deserves to be given every chance at a long and happy life."

Ashley Cain took to his Instagram account and posted a picture of Hallie, with a touching message of support after hearing about her plight. He wrote: "What a beautiful little girl. Sending my love, my strength and prayers your way. Also, my hand in help." To donate, visit: Rally for Hallie Go Fund Me page