SCANS show a Heswall schoolgirl’s brain tumour has shrunk considerably since she began pioneering treatment in Mexico.

Brave Lucy Moroney, aged nine, has just undergone her third bout of intra-arterial chemotherapy – and her family say they are very happy with the results so far.

She flew out on August 21 with dad Joe to undergo the procedure, which was not available on the NHS.

Aunt Paula Newman, from Tarporley, has been providing updates on Lucy’s progress and posted on Facebook: “Lucy has just woken after her third intra-arterial procedure, combined with her second immunotherapy treatment. She was very grumpy when she woke up this time!

“She needn’t have been grumpy as her MRI results from today were GREAT!! BIG shrinkage in the tumour according to the doctors. We’ll know more when we review the MRI’s in detail, but we’re very happy to have a positive result. They said a lot of the pons area (which is where the tumour is) now looks normal!

“Thank you all for your continued support. It’s really helping!!”

Lucy’s army of fans have been quick to react to the positive news.

One wrote: “That is amazing news, such a brave girl xxx,” while another added: “So glad to hear Lucy is doing well. She has every right to be grumpy too after what she’s going through bless her xxx.”

More than £236,000 has been raised towards the family’s target of £300,000 with plenty of fundraising events and challenges in the pipeline.

Lucy’s school, Gayton Primary School, recently raised £10,859 from the ‘Pineapple Fest’ event on September 2 for Lucy’s Pineapple Fund. The appeal got its name due to Lucy’s love of the fruit.

She was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour on July 17 this year.

The bombshell came just five years after the death of her mum, Nicola, and baby sister, Ruby.

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

Intra-arterial chemotherapy sees the chemo drugs injected directly into the tumour while minimising exposure to healthy tissue.

Paula urged people to carry on donating at Lucy’s Just Giving page – www.justgiving.com/ crowdfunding/lucy-pineapple

She also called on people to sign a petition to secure funding for more research into DIPG.

“We need 100,000 signatures on a petition to the UK government to fund DIPG research to help find a cure, as there isn’t one at the moment and the research funding is beyond a joke, so a cure isn’t on the horizon and hasn’t been for 60 years,” Paula said.

“As well as this, we also need to urgently give the children who are diagnosed with this terminal disease access to multi-modal aggressive treatment plans similar to the treatment Lucy is receiving in Mexico.

“There’s no reason why this can’t be provided in the UK. Terminally ill kids shouldn’t have to be uprooted from family, friends and the community in order to save or prolong their life.

“The UK should be leading the way rather than providing ‘care’ which hasn’t changed the outlook for patients in 60 years or more and has an unacceptable quality of life. Let’s start giving DIPG children and affected families some hope, better treatment, and get the UK leading the way on this!

“We don’t want to make memories in the short time the children are supposed to have left before they die, we want to keep them alive!”

To sign the petition visit https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/200017.