Two bereaved families from Kent are channeling their profound sorrow into a powerful force for change, championing a groundbreaking personalised cancer trial in memory of their children who died from rare forms of the disease.
The trial, launched on 13 November at local NHS hospitals, will use genomic sequencing to match 50 children with gliomas and neuroblastomas to targeted treatments, offering new hope where conventional therapies have been exhausted.
The initiative has been driven by the families of Silas Pullen, who died at age 11 in 2022, and another child who passed away in 2023. Together, they have established The Silas Fund and have already raised an impressive £500,000 through community events to support the research. Silas’s parents stated, “We are determined to create hope from our grief. The Silas Fund is his legacy.”
A representative for NHS Kent described the endeavour as “ambitious and potentially groundbreaking,” while also highlighting the ongoing need for public donations to ensure its full success. Medical experts believe the approach has “breakthrough potential.”
This trial enters a landscape where approximately 1,900 children are diagnosed with cancer each year in the UK. While the overall survival rate is around 80 per cent, certain aggressive cancers like gliomas have far poorer outcomes.
The Kent trial is part of a wider shift towards personalised medicine, building on early work with CRISPR gene-editing technology in 2024.
However, the high cost of such bespoke treatments exposes a significant funding gap within the national healthcare system, estimated to be in the billions.
The courage of these families has already inspired a 20 per cent increase in regional cancer advocacy, but the long-term success of such efforts depends on sustained financial and institutional support to turn personal tragedy into medical progress.
Written by Were Kelly
Sources: Yahoo News (ca.news.yahoo.com)
