‘We’re hoping this is our miracle drug’: Beeton girl battling cancer for fifth time begins immunotherapy treatment

A Beeton girl who has been battling cancer on and off for the past eight years has relapsed for the fourth time, but her family is hoping a new immunotherapy treatment will allow her to beat the disease once and for all.

Sarah Hamby, 11, who was originally diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in October 2012, about two months before her fourth birthday, was admitted into hospital Nov. 16 to begin the new treatment.

While the months and weeks ahead are still uncertain, the best-case scenario for Sarah is that she won’t have any adverse reactions to the treatment and will avoid a prolonged stay in hospital.

“We’re hoping this is our miracle drug,” said her mom, Gillian.

The infusion is a 28-day treatment, and while she will be able to continue receiving the drug at home, she will need to return to the hospital every three days.

Sarah has received other immunotherapies in the past, and while the cells were alive in her system, they kept the cancer at bay.

Her first relapse happened in July 2016 and she had her first bone marrow transplant that December.

After her second relapse in February 2018, she received CAR-T cell treatment, another form of immunotherapy.

She remained in remission for more than a year before relapsing a third time in Sept. 2019, and had a second bone-marrow transplant the following November.

At the beginning of this year, her immune system attacked her optic nerve and she lost all vision at the end of February. But she was able to regain most of her eyesight over time, after being treated for graft vs host disease.

“We are literally just going not even one day at a time, but one minute at a time,” she said. “We are trying to get through the day and be what Sarah needs to help her get through this.”

Sarah hasn’t been able to live a normal life since her relapse in Sept. 2019, and the pandemic has made it even worse, noted her dad, Mark.

“We worry about every virus, not just COVID-19,” he said. “Even chicken pox is wickedly dangerous for Sarah. You could say we’ve been in self-isolation for the better part of eight years.”

She hasn’t seen her friends in person for well over a year or been able to go out to do fun things between treatments.

“Not being able to take her out to do things because things are closed, to enjoy the time before treatments, it’s difficult,” he said. “And it’s hard for her to see friends because they could put her at risk, and you don’t want to go into treatment because it could create complications.”

The community has shown unwavering support to the family over the past eight years, and that solidarity is showing no signs of slowing down.

“The community has been great through all the treatments we’ve had,” Gillian said. “Every time she relapses, we’ve gotten so much support from so many people that you wouldn’t even expect to get support from.”

, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Crystal Robertson, owner of New Orleans Pizza, is selling DIY pizza kits, and a portion of the proceeds from each pizza will be donated to the family.

Robertson, who fundraisers for many causes locally and regionally, knows the family personally, and also as regular customers.

She wanted to provide the family financial support, whether it helps them buy something special for Sarah, or to help with all their travel and medical costs.

“Sarah is always smiling and she never wants for anything,” Robertson said.

For more information on how to order a pizza kit to support the Hamby family, contact Robertson at .

Friends are also organizing a birthday card bonanza to celebrate her 12th birthday on Dec. 5.

Anyone wishing to send Sarah a card can mail it to Tecumseth Elementary School in Beeton.

The mailing address for the school is 43 Patterson St., Box 302, Beeton, ON, L0G 1A0.

Story behind the story: Simcoe.com interviewed the Hamby family again after learning of their daughter’s fourth cancer relapse on social media, and to also find out what the community is doing to help them at this difficult time.