Bravery award for Connie as she gets set to ring the bell

FOUR-YEAR-OLD FINISHES LEUKAEMIA TRIAL THIS WEEK

- ZOE CHAMBERLAIN News Reporter

IT WILL be the best Christmas ever for brave little Connie McKenna as the youngster can finally end a leukaemia clinical trial which has given her a new life.

Birmingham mum Leanne Purcell was nine months pregnant when she was given the terrifying news that her two-year-old daughter Connie had cancer.

Just hours later she went into labour as she lay on a hospital camp bed next to her little girl, giving birth to baby Niamh just two days before Connie's first chemotherapy treatment.

The courageous little girl stayed in hospital for weeks, missing out on baby sister time while she had chemotherapy and strong steroids which left her struggling to walk.

But tests showed that traces of the cancer still remained and so she became one of the first to join a clinical trial to help improve treatment for children with leukaemia.

Now aged four, Connie is looking forward to spending a very special Christmas with her little sister because she is set to ring the bell to mark the end of cancer treatment on Sunday.

She has been awarded a Cancer Research UK for Children and Young People Star Award for her bravery.

"I'll never forget being told she had leukaemia - it was terrifying - like listening to someone speaking another language," said Leanne, from Billesley, who initially feared her daughter could be having a stroke back in October 2023.