My tummy is better and there are no more wiggleys

lost all her hair, which was previously thick and curly, and she was quieter than we’d ever known.”

Revolutionary proton beam therapy was touted as her best treatment option.

The targeted radiation, beneficial to children at risk of lasting organ damage, drew worldwide attention after the case of fiveyear-old Ashya King in 2014.

His parents were arrested for taking their son – against NHS advice – from Southampton General Hospital so he could have proton beam therapy abroad. But a High Court judge backed them and Ashya was treated successfully in the Czech Republic.

Five years on, more than 1,000 Brits have received the pioneering treatment on the NHS. But until last year they were sent abroad.

STRAIN

Daisy’s family were told the NHS would cover travel to the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute in Jacksonville, Florida, where she would stay for up to two months.

It meant taking older daughter Scarlett, 12, out of school while Andrew and Lynne, who works for the NHS Prescription Pricing Authority, went on leave. Lynne said: “While accommodation and flights would be funded, living expenses and time off work would have crippled us. It added a lot of emotional and financial strain at an already horrendous time.”

So it was with perfect timing that The Christie Hospital opened its doors and Daisy is among 750 patients to be treated this year.

She was zapped with the treatment 28 times over six weeks, each session lasting 90 seconds.