Treatment

In 2013 Sally Roberts was made a scapegoat while fighting for a better clinical deal for her son Neon. Stripped of her parental rights, Neon was denied an advanced treatment which at the time was held as having quackery status. Since this landmark case there has been a complete about-turn by the UK medical establishment, and the first Proton Beam Therapy centre has now opened its doors in the UK. Even the lead radiologist in Neon’s case has since completely revised his opinion of this treatment. The treatment Neon was prevented from having is now advocated as a treatment of the future. Sally tells her and Neon’s story in this extraordinarily dramatic memoir that is both heart-rending and inspiring; a parents’ worst nightmare told through the eyes of a mother in the line of fire from the medical establishment and media. This is a journey both gruelling and unthinkable to most people, yet the power of its message is inexorable and its outcome ultimately uplifting and beneficent.

Sally J Roberts was going through a marriage break up and moving home when her young son was diagnosed with the unthinkable. Questioning the harmfulness of radiotherapy catapulted Sally into the headlines where she found herself battling with an entrenched and hostile healthcare system.