Terminally-ill British has made a 'miracle' recovery

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Kaleigh Lau, seven, from Essex, was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour
Her devastated family were told there was no cure on the NHS
Parents scoured internet for treatments while she lost sight and mobility
Her dad Scott is fundraising £300,000 to pay for the experimental drugs
Just three weeks into her treatment in Mexico she is recovering

Published: 10:42 EDT, 4 June 2017 | Updated: 12:02 EDT, 4 June 2017

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A terminally-ill British girl who was given just months to live has made a 'miracle' recovery after her family moved to Mexico to get her life-saving treatment.

Kaleigh Lau, seven, was diagnosed with a brain tumour and her devastated family were told there was no cure on the NHS.

The schoolgirl was given months months to live, and her parents desperately scoured the internet for treatments while she lost her sight and mobility.

Kaleigh Lau, seven, was diagnosed with a brain tumour and her devastated family were told there was no cure on the NHS. The little girl has made a 'miracle' recovery after her family moved to Mexico to get life-saving treatment for her rare brain tumour

And just three weeks since Kaleigh, from Woodford Green, Essex, started experimental treatment in Mexico she is improving.

Her dad Scott is fundraising £300,000 to pay for the experimental drugs treatment and hopes to 'make history' by saving her life.

The former construction manager, who travelled to Mexico with his family-of-four knowing 'very little' of the treatment, said: 'We were losing hope and just didn't know what else to do.

'Day by day she was becoming more unbalanced, her left hand was noticeably weaker than the right, she was often seeing double vision and there was a very slight stutter in her speech.

'It was about seven days after the first treatment when the power in her left hand was returning and her walking was getting better. Then it was the hopping and the monkey bars - truly a miracle.

Just three weeks since Kaleigh, from Woodford Green, Essex, started experimental treatment in Mexico she is improving. Speaking about her recovery, her father said: 'Day by day she was becoming more unbalanced, her left hand was noticeably weaker than the right, she was often seeing double vision and there was a very slight stutter in her speech'

Kaleigh, pictured with her brother, was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma - an incurable rare brain tumour in April last year

'We are starting to dream that we can see light at the end of the tunnel.

'Since receiving treatment we are definitely getting the old Kaleigh back, full of energy and very outgoing again with limited help required.

'She is just happy all round and horse playing with her brother all the time and she mentions the future a lot more.

What is Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma?

DIPG is a type of high grade brain tumour. High grade brain tumours tend to grow quickly and are more likely to spread to other parts of the brain or spinal cord. They are sometimes referred to as being 'malignant' or 'cancerous'.

DIPGs originate in an area of the brain, and more specifically the brainstem, called the pons. The pons is an area deep within the lower part of the brain which is responsible for a number of critical bodily functions, such as breathing, sleeping and blood pressure.

The cause of brain tumours, including DIPG, is not yet known. This can be one of the most difficult things to accept as a parent as it can leave you feeling helpless. Brain tumours are nobody's fault. There is no research that shows that anything you may have done during pregnancy or in your child's early infancy could have caused your child's brain tumour.

From thebraintumourcharity.org

'We cannot get carried away with the treatment in Mexico as it's too early to tell what the future holds, at the end of the day less than 1 per cent of the children survive this illness and that is typically because they have been misdiagnosed.

'We are here to make history, really hoping Kaleigh will be the first of many to become the miracle child who survives DIPG.'

Kaleigh was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma - an incurable rare brain tumour in April last year.

She had 30 sessions of radiotherapy on the NHS to reduce her tumour and was due to be the first child in the UK to take part in a ground-breaking treatment for DIPG in January.

But after tests showed her tumour had grown again she was pulled out from receiving the drugs, her family claim.

Scott, wife Wang, and their five-year-old Carson left the UK and moved to Mexico in April, weeks after reading about the treatment in Mexico online.

Scott said he could not name the experimental cocktail of 11 drugs Kaleigh was receiving due to 'politics and commercial reasons'.

But he said he believed the treatment, which she started on May 12, was not offered anywhere else in the world.

She is having intra-arterial and Immunotherapy treatment at the same time by cancer-specialists at a hospital called Hospitales Angeles.

Scott said: 'We didn't really tell her the reason for the holiday, but she is a smart girl and knew her condition was getting worse.

'We were actually planning to go to Hong Kong for what we believed would be Kaleigh's final trip to see her cousins as she absolutely adores them, however because we could not get insurance to cover Kaleigh.

'We knew she knew that her body was changing and for a period of time she would say 'I love you more than you know' and 'even when I'm angry at you, I still love you'.'

Her family have raised about £150,000 putting on charity events to meet the costs of the treatment, which are expected to run into £300,000.

Jeremy Corbyn, Simon Cowell, Olly Murs and Mo Farah were among the celebrities who backed Scott's campaign to raise awareness and funding into a DIPG cure to save his daughter's life last year

Jeremy Corbyn is pictured supporting the Kaleigh Bear Campaign calling on the Government to give more funding into DIPG cures last year

Her father Scott is fundraising £300,000 to pay for the experimental drugs treatment and hopes to 'make history' by saving her life. Harry Potter author JK Rowling was among them

Jeremy Corbyn, Simon Cowell, Olly Murs and Mo Farah were among the celebrities who backed Scott's campaign to raise awareness and funding into a DIPG cure to save his daughter's life last year.

Scott said: 'NHS has never said they wouldn't treat her, but they just don't have the treatment to cure her.'

Cameron Miller, Policy and Public Affairs Manager for The Brain Tumour Charity said: 'Our thoughts go out to the Lau family at this incredibly difficult time.

'The Lau's find themselves in a situation that we see time and time again where families receive a brain tumour diagnosis that has few treatment options available.

'We live in a time when promising trials and innovative treatments are now public information that anyone can find readily. Such information can provide hope of at least a little more time and a higher quality of life.

'We know that research into treatments for brain tumours is woefully underfunded which is why, as part of our strategy, we have committed to investing £20 million into new research between 2015 - 2020 to try and find a cure.

'Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of the under 40s. This must change.'