Family raising £130k for girl's stem cell treatment

A family with triplets hopes to raise £130,000 to fund one daughter's stem cell treatment after she was starved of oxygen at birth.

During Naomi Foley's emergency Caesarean section, Margot suffered a severe brain injury, leaving her with seizures and dystonia - uncontrolled and sometimes painful muscle movements.

Foley said she would like Margot, now aged two, "to be more comfortable... Her neurologist said we aim for comfort with her... She's not comfortable all the time".

She said she had found a team in Mexico that could offer treatment, but the doctors needed to come to Europe. The family has raised enough for one session, about £22,000, but have been told six sessions are recommended.

At first, they found a company in the Netherlands that could offer them the stem cell treatment, but the company ceased trading.

Foley has since found the company in Mexico that can offer the treatment in Europe, but this comes at an additional cost.

She said: "They're cheaper in Mexico, but they said, because of the cost to get it over to Europe, it costs us a lot more money; and we have to fund the doctors to come from Mexico to Europe as well."

The family would also like to raise enough funds to help fund future care and a second round of treatment down the line.

Margot needed the treatment "ideally before she's five, because that's when most of the neuroplasticity of the brain is happening," Foley said.

Foley said raising the money would mean "the absolute world".

Despite being told Margot "would only ever eat and breathe", her mum said she was "so much more than that".

"She smiles, she is aware, she knows her name, she has different cries for different things," she explained.

Foley said she was not "expecting miracles" but "can't not try".

"If we can do anything to help her, just get some more tools into her toolbox and help that journey for her, then that would be amazing.

"It's Margot's year this year, I've decided," she added.

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