A SCHOOLGIRL diagnosed with a brain tumour has jetted off to Mexico for treatment after people across the nation rallied to raise more than £100,000 in just two weeks.

Lucy Moroney, aged nine, is expected to undergo intra-arterial chemotherapy treatment under the expert watch of two specialists in Monterrey.

The fund to help her is called Lucy's Pineapple Fund, because she loves pineapples – and may even have taken some of the fruit onboard as a snack.

As the Standard went to press it had amassed £114,057, with a target in place of £300,000.

Her aunt, Paula Newman, from Tarporley, posted on Facebook that Lucy had flown from Manchester airport on Monday morning.

She said: “I cannot believe the support we've had and continue to receive from the kindest friends, family and complete strangers.

“To everyone who has shared, donated, attended events, organised events, purchased pineapple paraphernalia and especially those who have done all of the above, you are all amazing.

“Let's keep her going and keep her on the treatment programme.”

Lucy, who lives in Heswall, South Wirral, was given her crushing diagnosis just five years after the death of her mum, Nicola, and baby sister, Ruby.

Paula 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 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.”

Paula said the family 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 c-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.

To donate visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/
lucy-pineapple

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