A SIX-YEAR-OLD Pen Llyn schoolgirl who received life-saving brain surgery last week will have to travel to the USA for pioneering treatment, her mother has said.

Evie Hughes was rushed to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool earlier this month, where she underwent emergency surgery last Wednesday following the detection of a brain tumour which has left her permanently blind in one eye.

Speaking to the Cambrian News from Alder Hey this week, Evie’s mum Heather said the operation had gone well, with fluid drained from a cyst surrounding the tumour.

But Mrs Hughes added that consultants had informed her and husband Geraint that it was “inevitable” Ysgol Morfa Nefyn pupil Evie will have to travel to Florida for a treatment known as proton therapy.

Speaking after a consultation this week, Heather said that doctors were hopeful of being able to shrink the tumour with chemotherapy rather than surgery, but they would have to wait a week or two to see if the swelling on the surrounding cyst reduces.

Proton therapy is an advanced form of radiation therapy that uses protons rather than traditional X-rays, meaning it targets tumours and cancer cells more precisely, causing less damage to surrounding tissue.

“She’s doing better than we thought she would. Minus the tiredness and headaches, she has been brilliant,” said Mrs Hughes

An online crowd-funding campaign to help support the family has raised £1,027 in just 10 days, with several fund-raising events planned.

Mrs Hughes added: “The support is beyond heart-warming. There are so many events people have planned, some people we don’t even know. We can’t thank people enough for what they are doing — friends, family, people we don’t know and all the hospital staff for their amazing care.”

To help Mr and Mrs Hughes, donate by visiting: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/angela-jenkinson

Read the full story in this week’s Arfon/Dwyfor edition of the Cambrian News