THE family of a schoolgirl diagnosed with a brain tumour are desperately hoping to raise £300,000 to send her abroad for treatment.

Lucy Moroney, aged nine, was given the crushing diagnosis just five years after the death of her mum, Nicola, and baby sister, Ruby.

Her aunt, Paula Newman, from Tarporley, has said the family’s “already broken hearts were shattered into a million pieces” when they heard Lucy had a terminal and inoperable brain tumour on July 17.

Called Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), it is a relatively unknown form of cancer that is thought to only affect children.

With time against them, the family has been frantically searching for treatments and therapies that are not available on the NHS and has discovered options in Mexico, America, Australia and Spain.

Paula said: “Our family is doing everything possible, amid the whirlwind of disbelief we find ourselves in, to find alternative therapies and options that may work either outside or alongside the NHS.

“It’s our only hope of helping Lucy and if we have hope, we can keep going.”

As news of Lucy’s plight begins to spread, the family has already secured more than £70,000 towards the medical expenses – but need about £300,000.

They are now calling on people to help them raise the cash as quickly as possible.

Paula said the family, who live in Heswall, South Wirral, had been left reeling by the diagnosis, which came just as they had begun to rebuild after the tragic events five years ago.

On January 24, 2012, her sister Nicola died from sudden cardiac arrest at the age of 33, due to an undiagnosed heart condition called Dilated Cardiomyopathy.

Lucy, who attends Gayton Primary School, was only four years old at the time and her sister, Amy, was almost two.

Nicola was pregnant with their little sister, Ruby, who was born by Caesarean section at 24 weeks as doctors desperately tried to resuscitate her mum. Ruby lived for 14 hours but died in her dad’s arms on January 25, 2012.

The fund to help Lucy is called Lucy’s Pineapple Fund, because she loves pineapples. To donate visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lucy-pineapple

To contact the family with fundraising ideas email lucyspineapplefund@gmail.com.