Burnley mum faces huge task to send brave little girl to Barcelona for life-saving treatment

A desperate young mum is counting on the generosity of the Burnley public to help raise a huge amount of money to get her little girl to Barcelona for potentially life-saving cancer treatment.

Helen Robinson (24) was given the devastating news early last year that her brave little girl Caitlin has Stage 4 neuroblastoma, after months of misdiagnosis from doctors who could not get to the bottom of why a bruise had appeared on Caitlin's eye.

The mum-of-two must now raise a staggering £150,000 to enable five-year-old Caitlin to receive specialist treatment at a hospital in the Spanish city of Barcelona.

To support Helen and Caitlin click here It is the culmination of a terrible year for Helen and Caitlin who have endured months of uncertainty and the heartbreaking realisation that conventional treament had not worked.

After months of travelling between doctor's appointments and blood tests, a CT scan at the Royal Blackburn Hospital identified the cancer and Caitlin was sent to Manchester for treatment.

However, despite brave Caitlin undergoing 40 rounds of chemotherapy, as well as radiotherapy treatment, mum Helen was given the devastating news in October that it had not been successful.

Helen said: "Cailtin was an ordinary little girl who loved playing football. To be honest, she is still very well in herself and has a good appetite, but obviouslyhas this terrible cancer.

"It all started with a bruise on Caitlin's eye which I didn't think was right. Whenever, I took her to the doctor's, though, they thought it was either her nose growing or a chipped bone.

"I kept taking her back because I knew something wasn't right. After she was eventually diagnosed, Caitlin had lots of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The radiotherapy was a difficult time for us both because I was pregnant at the time and so couldn't be there for the treatment.

"Caitlin loves her little sister Skyla. She never complains about her illness and just gets on with things."

Helen was told about the Barcelona treatment through the Amelia-Mae Foundation neuroblastoma charity. However, the costs of the treatment are huge, promting Helen to set up a GoFundMe page.

She said: "The page has raised £1,300 and we are organising some fund-raising events but there is a long way to go."