A mum who’s fighting terminal cancer has been given special permission to fly to America for potentially life-prolonging treatment despite coronavirus travel bans.
Sarah Wright, 33, is battling triple negative breast cancer but the clinical trials could give her more time with her nine-month-old baby girl Everleigh and husband Adam Wright.
She was accepted onto a trial for Leronlimab, a revolutionary American drug which rapidly fights tumour cells, earlier this month after her biopsy results proved it could be effective.
The mum-of-one from Warehorne near Ashford, Kent initially planned to go to San Francisco in March, but then President Donald Trump banned Britons from entering the USA as the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
With no predicted date of when travel restrictions may be lifted, husband Adam started frantically exploring avenues to get Sarah to the drug trials.
Time was of the essence as the family decided not to know how many more months Sarah is expected to live for but the hard work paid off when they received the good news on Thursday.
Adam, 35, said: "Our MP Damian Green assisted with getting in contact with the US embassy, there were others who came forward after seeing our campaign who also had contacts within the Embassy; this all helped our case.
"They reached out to us for further info which we provided; they then followed this up after a couple of days with an email informing us that our travel waiver had been approved."
Adam explained that getting the travel waiver was the “biggest hurdle” for the family.
He continued: “Having this out of the way meant we could plan to go to San Francisco and receive the treatment Sarah so desperately needs.
"Next steps are to find some flights or providers that are still operating and to liaise with the clinic in San Fran for a suitable day for us to attend.
"We are currently working on several flight options."
Now that they are allowed to travel, the couple just need to actually find a flight given that many are grounded.
Adam said it’s the family’s “number one priority” to get to the US “all for Everleigh”.
“She's not old enough to understand what's going on,” he explained.
“She's got no idea but it's just horrible to think that in the future, if we don't take this opportunity to go to America and try something new, she might grow up without her mum.
"It's just not right really and it's not fair. That's why we're doing this and need it.
"The drug has had such positive effects on some patients in the same position to the point where tumours have shrunk. It's looking like a really good option."
Sarah was part of the Team England shooting team at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 when she discovered she had breast cancer and was pregnant in the same week.
Despite bravely taking on chemotherapy throughout her pregnancy, Sarah gave birth to healthy little Everleigh in July last year.
Speaking about the "crazy week" of contrasting news, Adam explained: "It was an incredible week because we found out that we were having the baby. I was so happy and looking forward to the future involving another little person.
"We were looking forward to them growing up and having milestones in their life; first birthdays, going to school, all that sort of thing.
"But then in the next breath, it all came crashing down.
"We knew Sarah had a tiny little lump but we went to the oncologist's office and they don't beat around the bush. They said 'I'm sorry, you've got cancer' and your whole world just falls apart.
"We had this little baby on the way and had to think about whether to keep it. There were so many questions and unfortunately for us we've gone through that four times now in the last year."
Sarah, whose mum beat breast cancer a year before her diagnosis, was positive the first time around that they could get it early through surgery and routine chemotherapy.
But in August 2019, just six weeks after baby Everleigh was born, doctors told her that the treatment and surgery was sadly unsuccessful and the cancer had spread to her lungs and liver.
Adam added: "That was definitely the worst. It was the worst day for us because we had our baby, she was six-weeks-old now. To find out you've got terminal cancer, you're going to die of it, and there's nothing that oncologist could do, was just horrendous.
"We were all positive and thought we've just got to get through this but we haven't been back to normal since.
"It's been a constant uphill battle and every stage where we were hopeful that something happened positively, it hasn't.
“It's always been the horrendous news that it's spread and it's getting worse. Every time."
