THE parents of a little girl fighting cancer have welcomed the plans to bring pioneering treatment to the UK.

Five-year-old Katie Dodd travelled to the USA for proton beam therapy — the most advanced form of radiotherapy — in February to treat the tumour in her spine.

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester has now announced the treat-ment will be available for children and adults in 2018.

The therapy targets tumours more prec-isely with less damage to surrounding tiss-ues.

This can improve the quality of life following cancer treatment and reduces side effects, especially for children like Katie.

Currently, the NHS sends children and adults needing Proton Beam Therapy to the United States, but from 2018 it will be offered to up to 1,500 cancer patients at The Christie and at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in London (UCLH).

Katie travelled to America with parents Lee and Rebecca and brother Joseph to treat the tumour which left her unable to walk.

Mum Rebecca, from Farnworth, says the latest announcement will help other families fighting cancer in the future.

Rebecca, who had to give up her job to go to Florida for her daughter’s treatment, said: “The thing that will be great about the treatment being brought to the UK is trying where possible to regain some normality without the upheaval and added stress of going abroad for it.”