LITTLE DAISY’S JOY AS
BRAVE Daisy Fail plays with a bucket and spade... after digging deeper in the past eight months than most of us do in a lifetime.
Flashing her trademark smile, the three-year-old is finally in remission after proton beam therapy zapped her cancer.
Relieved mum Lynne said the tumour “has effectively been fried to within an inch of its life”.
The Sunday Mirror has followed Daisy on each precarious step of the way as she fought for her life.
The plucky tot grew weary of constantly having tubes – or “wiggleys” as she put it – inserted into her little body.
So when she finally got the allclear you had to smile when Daisy told her pals at nursery that “my tummy is better” and that she has “no more wiggleys”.
It was last November that Daisy was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive soft tissue cancer.
Lynne and husband Andrew were set to take the family 4,000 miles to Florida so she could have lifesaving proton beam therapy.
TIMING
But when a new UK centre opened with miraculous timing in December, Daisy was thrown a lifeline much closer to home.
She is one of the youngest to have therapy at the £125million NHS facility in Manchester – just 150 miles from the family’s home in Consett, County Durham.
Lynne, 43, said: “We were prepared to fly anywhere in the world and do anything to save our daughter. But hearing that she could be treated here in the UK with her loved ones close by was nothing short of a godsend.”
The treatment uses highenergy protons instead of X-rays to target tumours without harming surrounding tissue. It increases the chance of survival.
Daisy has just been given the all-clear by her local hospital and Lynne said: “Words can’t describe how thrilled we are. Daisy has been bouncing off the walls since her final treatment.
“Hopefully we can move on and she can live a normal life now. She is aware of what’s going on – that her tummy was poorly and it’s better now. She’s just so happy, it’s wonderful to see.”
Daisy’s bladder tumour was spotted at Great North Children’s Hospital, Newcastle. She had soft tissue sarcoma rhabdomyosarcoma – diagnosed in fewer than 60 children in the UK each year.
During five weeks in hospital she had nine rounds of chemotherapy. Dad Andrew, 43, who works in car manufacturing, said: “She was so tiny. It was devastating. We were told it was aggressive and fast-growing. We couldn’t help fearing the worst.
“She was a little trouper but it was still heartbreaking to see. She