Our one-year-old daughter Melody should be learning to play and laugh, not fighting for her life. Instead, she is battling a devastating cancer, with the only drug that could save her costing more than £20,000 per month and not funded by the NHS.

Melody was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive form of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) when she was just four months old. She endured two rounds of intensive chemotherapy, requiring countless blood and platelet transfusions, a prolonged stay in Intensive Care, and several weeks on a ventilator. Doctors then told us that a bone marrow transplant was her only chance of survival. Melody underwent her transplant at Great Ormond Street Hospital, and for a brief moment, we dared to hope.

But that hope was soon shattered. Melody suffered every conceivable complication, including severe acute Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), and despite everything she fought through, devastatingly, within just 30 days she relapsed. The leukaemia remained.

We have now been told that there are no other treatment options available in the UK, as all have been exhausted, and that our only remaining path is palliative care. We have been encouraged to spend time at home and cherish the remaining weeks we have left together, but as parents, we cannot accept that this is the end of the road while there is still a chance to help our little girl.

Right now, there is one final glimmer of hope: a specialised drug available only in America that could give Melody a chance to reach remission. Time is absolutely critical. Our incredible oncology team at University Hospital Southampton (UHS) made an emergency specialist request to the MHRA to approve the use of this drug for Melody, and we are profoundly grateful that approval was granted.

However, approval alone does not save Melody.

The drug costs £20,500 per month, and without the funds in place, it cannot be ordered or started. Crucially, we are able to order the drug as early as this week, but only if the money is raised in time. Every day we lose, risks the leukaemia progressing beyond the point where this treatment can help her.

Melody needs this treatment to have any chance of achieving long-term remission and becoming eligible for a second bone marrow transplant, something that cannot be considered for at least two years after her first transplant. Without this drug, there is no bridge to that future at all, making this medication her lifeline in the meantime.

This means that without this fundraiser, Melody cannot receive the treatment.

Melody will be the first person in England ever to receive this drug. While that is daunting, it also represents a vital opportunity, not only for her, but for what this treatment could mean for other children facing the same diagnosis in the future.

Asking for help as parents is incredibly hard, but we are running out of time. This treatment represents hope where there is otherwise none. Every donation, no matter the size, brings us closer to ordering the drug and starting treatment before it’s too late.

Thank you for reading, for caring, and for standing with Melody when she needs it most.

With love and gratitude,

Rachel & Kevin