Baby astounds doctors by surviving one of world's rarest cancers - but now she needs £300k to beat the disease

Baby astounds doctors by surviving one of world's rarest cancers - but now she needs £300k to beat the disease

A
baby with a one-of-a-kind form of cancer has been hailed as a 'miracle'
by doctors who believe she is the only infant in the world to survive a
horrifying range of illnesses.

Lilly MacGlashan has battled against all the odds to survive - but now needs to travel to the U.S for life-saving treatment. Baby astounds doctors by surviving one of world's rarest cancers - but now she needs £300k to beat the disease Article-1350681-0CEA6D04000005DC-622_634x421

Baby astounds doctors by surviving one of world's rarest cancers - but now she needs £300k to beat the disease Article-1350681-0CEA6D04000005DC-622_634x421

Fighter: Lilly MacGlashan - seen here with her twin Molly - has battled against all the odds to survive in her short life

Doctors
think Lilly is the only infant in the world to be diagnosed with
neuroblastoma in the brain and say it is a miracle she's managed to
fight the illness for so long.
And now, they've given the youngster a small glimmer of hope.
Her family are trying to raise £300,000 to fund life-saving treatment in America, as it cannot be obtained in the UK.
Mrs
MacGlashan, 42, said: 'At six weeks old she had a massive tumour on her
adrenal gland, which doctors said was treatable and curable.
She had four lots of chemotherapy, they shrunk the tumour and removed it.'
But
that was only the beginning of her ordeal, as the family received more
devastating news only shortly after Lilly was released from hospital. Baby astounds doctors by surviving one of world's rarest cancers - but now she needs £300k to beat the disease Article-1350681-0CEC38F7000005DC-176_634x475

Baby astounds doctors by surviving one of world's rarest cancers - but now she needs £300k to beat the disease Article-1350681-0CEC38F7000005DC-176_634x475

Dawn with her daughter: Lily's family are desperate to raise the funds to give their child a fighting chance of survival

Mrs MacGlashan said: 'Two weeks later she started vomiting and we took her back to hospital.
'They scanned her brain and they could not believe it - her brain was absolutely covered in lesions.'
The condition hadn't been picked up earlier as this particular strain of cancer had never been seen in a baby's brain before.
Mrs MacGlashan said: 'Doctors ... couldn't find anybody else that this had happened to.
'They went back twenty years and in the whole world there were only two cases.'
Unfortunately,
the infants in those cases did not survive the disease, but Lilly has
defied expectations by living through the condition.
Mrs
MacGlashan said: 'All the neurosurgeons couldn't believe that she'd
gone through all that and survived, they were completely shocked that
she hadn't sustained any brain damage - she's still Lilly.'
Lilly even survived a case of e-coli, a dangerous disease that could have been even more deadly in her weakened state. Baby astounds doctors by surviving one of world's rarest cancers - but now she needs £300k to beat the disease Article-1350681-0CEC39C8000005DC-654_634x478

Baby astounds doctors by surviving one of world's rarest cancers - but now she needs £300k to beat the disease Article-1350681-0CEC39C8000005DC-654_634x478

Hope: Lilly has responded well to treatment so far

Mrs MacGlashan said: 'When they did the biopsy of her primary tumour they put a Hickman line in to administer her chemotherapy.
'She developed e-coli, her whole body blew up and they gave her 24 hours. She looked like an aubergine.'

But a pioneering cancer treatment only available in America, could offer a chance for survival.
'This
country can't do anything to help Lilly because the drugs aren't
available over here. But doctors in America have said that they can do
it - it will up her chances of survival,'
Lilly is also a twin, but sister Molly was not affected by the condition.
And despite her torrid time, Lilly's mother says the family retain lots of hope.
She said: 'It has been a really traumatic experience, but Lilly gives us so much inspiration.
'You
wake up and you can't believe what you're going through but because
she's still here against all the odds it makes it all worthwhile.
'She's been through so much already, but Lilly seems to just take it all in her stride - I'm so proud of her.
'She has good days and bad days but at the moment she's doing amazingly well.' Baby astounds doctors by surviving one of world's rarest cancers - but now she needs £300k to beat the disease Article-1350681-0CEA6F97000005DC-290_634x427

Baby astounds doctors by surviving one of world's rarest cancers - but now she needs £300k to beat the disease Article-1350681-0CEA6F97000005DC-290_634x427

Caring: Lilly and big sister Danielle (left) holding twin Molly and mother Dawn

Mrs
MacGlashan and husband John are appealing for help to raise the huge
amount of money they need to send Lilly abroad for treatment,and are
starting with a sponsored swimathon in February.
A
spokesman for Addenbrooke's Hospital said: 'The pattern of disease
which has occurred in Lilly's case is incredibly rare and is not
something which experts in the UK or our international colleagues have
seen in any other patient.'

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