Cancer fundraising appeal for one-year-old Nottingham girl

Winnie is still undergoing chemotherapy

The family of a one-year-old girl with an aggressive form of leukaemia are fundraising for treatment abroad.

Winnie, who turns two in June, was diagnosed last year when she was 11 months old.

Her family said the NHS could now only offer treatment to prolong her life.

Her mother Lucy, from Mapperley, Nottingham, said she wanted to make sure Winnie got the best treatment "instead of taking her home to die".

Winnie was a normal active baby who loved dancing in her bouncer, said Lucy

The family took Winnie to A&E last year, after she had a bad cold that did not clear up, a tooth that grew at a strange angle, and stopped eating and walking.

Both Lucy, 35, and her husband Luke, 38, were told she had leukaemia.

After undergoing chemotherapy and immunotherapy, Winnie initially went into remission before relapsing.

She then received a bone marrow transplant and went into remission again, but three months later a more aggressive form of the cancer was detected.

Lucy said about three weeks ago, the doctors told them Winnie had "less than a 5% chance of surviving" without treatment and they were left with the options of more chemotherapy to prolong her life or waiting for the leukaemia to take over.

She said: "Immediately I picked up my phone and said I am going to start raising the money to make sure she gets the best treatment, instead of taking her home to die."

Lucy wants to take her daughter abroad for treatment

The psychology teacher said the private treatment, called CD7 CAR-T, was available in Spain, Germany or Singapore.

Winnie would also need another bone marrow transplant afterwards.

The couple said their savings would only cover a fraction of the £500,000 cost of the treatment, so they have set up an online appeal and have raised more than £50,000 so far.