Donations have been flooding in for a Givealittle page set up for 10-year-old Waipukurau girl, Grace Thompson, who is battling a rare type of cancer.
At the end of last week, around 120 donors had pledged more than $11,500 to the page which was set up to raise money for the family while it explores costly treatment options here and overseas for Grace, who has adrenal cortical carcinoma, a cancer rarely seen in children.
"The Givealittle page has gone crazy," said Grace's mum, Heidi. "Apart from the amazing donations, we have had so many businesses offering supportive services for Grace — for example a personal trainer at the gym and education services while she isn't at school, and more people offering to put donation boxes on counters and start raffles for us. The support just keeps on coming," she said.
Heidi said the family was in the process of organising the next phase of Grace's treatment plan, following news that her daughter would be unable to take part in a drug trial at hospital in Florida in the US, to fight a grapefruit-sized tumour in her abdomen.
"But we are now looking at getting a biopsy of her lump to be sent to the US for genetic sequencing ... which can be a very useful tool to tailor-make a treatment package for a patient," Heidi said.