// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Toddler heads to US for cancer treatment as family given 'glimmer of hope'
Teddy Sloman was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma, a rare and aggressive childhood cancer, last year
A mother who is preparing to take her three-year-old son to the US for a vaccine trial says it has given her family a "glimmer of hope" for his future.
Almost a year ago, doctors warned Teddy Sloman's parents that he might not survive life-saving surgery after being diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma, external, a rare, aggressive childhood cancer.
But recent scans showed no active disease, and the family are preparing to fly to New York next month for what his mum Sarah hopes will be "the final chapter" of his treatment and "the end of this ridiculous nightmare".
"We've now given him the absolute best chance that we could possibly have in the world of medical science," she said.
Sarah, from Pontypool, Torfaen, said the process since Teddy's diagnosis had been "incredibly difficult" as they were often dealing with problems they could not have anticipated.
As a paediatric nurse herself, she previously said her medical knowledge had been both "a blessing and a curse".
An experimental treatment aimed at preventing the return of the type of cancer Teddy has is no longer available in the UK, so his family raised £250,000 to access the vaccine trial in New York.
Sarah said the scan results felt like "Christmas came early" after months of fearing Teddy would relapse, and like they were finally "moving forward to the next step".
But she added they had to "mentally navigate all of these things" when all they "really want to do is stay at home and enjoy being a family for once".