‘Tiny Dancer’ to travel to Britain for radiotherapy

‘Tiny Dancer’ Lily-Mae Morrison travels to Britain tomorrow to begin an advanced radiotherapy programme which is the next step in her attempt to beat cancer.

The four-year-old, who suffers from neuroblastoma, will undergo Intensity Modulated Arc Radiotherapy — one of the most sophisticated radiotherapy treatments available worldwide — for the next three weeks at University College Hospital in London.

The Galway youngster, who has received nine different chemotherapy courses in her short life, was assessed by cancer specialists in London earlier this month, after doctors at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin gave her the go-ahead to receive the HSE-funded treatment.

She will receive just a few minutes of treatment every afternoon from next Monday, with radiation entering her body in the shape of an arc, thereby delivering the highest dose to the primary tumours area while causing the least possible damage to healthy tissue.

Judith Sibley, Lily-Mae’s mother, said yesterday she is determined to make sure her daughter enjoys her time in London, as the treatment “is unlikely to take much out of her”.

She said: “We’re travelling over as a family and are staying in an apartment for the three weeks, but the good thing is that Lily-Mae will only spend a few minutes every day getting radiotherapy.

“So we’re determined to make a holiday out of this and enjoy our time over there as best we can. We’ll take her out to see all the sites and as a special treat we’re planning to take her to see The Lion King, the musical which is on in the West End.

“This is not going to cure her, because the neuroblastoma could always come back. But it’s the best radiotherapy treatment she could possibly be getting and what it will do is blast the tumours site without damaging her healthy areas.”

At the end of next month Lily-Mae returns to Crumlin for a six-month immunotherapy clinical trial.

Lily-Mae captured the hearts of the Irish public last Christmas after the release of the chart-topping charity single, Tiny Dancer.

The charity, The Sunni Mae Trust, has so far raised €300,000 of a €500,000 target.

*thesunnimaetrust.ie