Fight for Faye: fundraising forges ahead as Sunderland musician flies to America for first stage of treatment

Fight for Faye has received huge support since being launched at the end of last year, raising £235,000 of its £450,000 total.

Set up to pay for potentially life-saving treatment for Faye Fantarrow, 20, from East Herrington, the fund has enabled the talented city musician to fly to California for the first stage of CAR T cell trial at The City of Hope clinical research centre after she was diagnosed with an aggressive glioma brain tumour.

With treatment not available in Britain, Sunderland and the music community has rallied round Faye to give her a chance of survival with the fund paying for multiple trips to America, for cell retrieval and infusions.

Events such as Friday night’s Fight for Faye concert at the Fire Station and a We Make Culture night at Pop Recs, as well as a huge number of individual donations, have been a big boost to the fund.

And the fundraising continues with a fundraising night at The Saltgrass on February 18 with local DJ Ryan McDermott who’ll be performing ahead of his residency at the world-famous Cafe Mambo in Ibiza for the season.

Other ongoing fundraisers include a Beer for Faye, a special pale ale brewed at the Vaux Brewery in Roker, which features an illustration by local artist Kathryn Robertson.

Faye’s sister, Abi Thompson, 30, who set up the Fight for Faye campaign, said the family has been overwhelmed by the support.

"The support we’ve had is so overwhelming. People are struggling themselves with the Cost of Living Crisis so to donate in the way they have is incredible. I never thought the fund would take off in the way it has and so quickly.

"Faye’s back from her first trip to America which was very tiring, it’s big journey, but the initial cell retrieval went well.”

Speaking about the latest fundraisers, Abi said: “Walter (Veti) from The Saltgrass reached out and said he wanted to help. And it was similar with Vaux who reached out.

"That all these local businesses want to help is absolutely brilliant.”

Steve Smith from Vaux said: “We wanted to do something to help raise money and awareness so that Faye can get the treatment she needs. So the idea of brewing a beer was born – and now you get to drink it knowing that you are doing something good at the same time.”

The next stage of Faye’s fight will be to fly back to America where the cells retrieved at her last trip will be put back in her body.

The CAR T treatment involves using a patient's own T cells (a type of immune system cell), which are changed in the laboratory so they will attack cancer cells and then given back to the patient, which in Faye’s case would be the infusions direct to her brain.

::You can donate direct to the Fight for Faye fund at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/abigail-thompson-2

::Tickets for the Cafe Mambo night at The Saltgrass in Deptford on Saturday, February 18 are £10 and are available from Skiddle.com

::Beer for Faye is available on the Vaux webshop at www.vaux.beer