THE family of six-year-old Madison Allan has won the battle to get £35,000 for new cancer treatment.

Relatives accused health chiefs at NHS Blackburn with Darwen Teaching Care Trust of ‘putting a price’ on her life after hesitating to make a decision.

Madison’s consultant said the procedure could shrink a tumour wrapped around her internal organs.

Her mum Samantha took the fight to the NHS North West Cancer Drugs Fund Panel and, at a special meeting yesterday, they agreed to pay £7,500 for the cost of the drug.

Blackburn with Darwen care trust has now agreed to foot the rest of the bill for Madison’s aftercare at The Christie Hospital, Manchester.

The one-off shot of radioactive treatment will be given on Monday, September 19, meaning she will spend her seventh birthday on September 23 in isolation in hospital.

The Lancashire Telegraph reported on Saturday that the family had been left waiting for a decision on the funding after the NHS delayed an announcement.

Madison’s grandmother Alison Foster said: “We know this isn’t a cure for Madison, but it will buy her the time she so deseperately needs.

“We’re relieved and really pleased, but annoyed it’s dragged on for eight weeks.

“There was no way that Madison’s mum Samantha was going to let this drop.

"Twelve months ago Madison was sent home by the hospital in Manchester to die, and if Samantha hadn’t have fought then to start up a fundraising campaign for treatment abroad, she wouldn’t be here now.

“If they’d have come back and said they weren’t going to pay for the treatment then we’d have been forced to pay for it out of the Madison Allan Appeal money, but that would have been added expense on top of the £250,000 we need for her treatment in Germany.”

Madison spent her sixth birthday at Griefswald Hospital in Germany undergoing trial chemotherapy treatment not currently available in the UK, and paid for by public donations.

Since then the tumour has reduced in size by 2cms and the latest scans show that around 80 per cent is beginning to die off.

She still has an uphill battle but it is this progress which has led her consultant in Manchester to recommend MIGB treatment on the NHS.

Mrs Foster added: “The delay means that treatment will come right smack-bang on her birthday, which is a shame, but there’s nothing we can do.

“Luckily we’re holding a party for her on September 17, so she should at least be okay for that.”

MIGB is an abbreviation of metaiodobenzylguanidine - a new type of cancer treatment where radioactive iodine is injected directly into the tumour to kill off the cells.

It is used to directly eradicate tumour cells, rather than chemotherapy which kills both cancer and healthy cells.

Eight weeks after her shot of MIGB, Madison will return to Germany for tests to see how the tumour is responding.

Doctors will then decide what next steps to take.

Alison added: “This decision in our favour gives hope to other people going through the same plight.

“We need to highlight the issue of neuroblastoma because it’s not as rare as people think.”

Vanessa Hollings, director of commissioning, development and planning at NHS Blackburn with Darwen Teaching Care Trust Plus, said: "Although we cannot comment on individual cases, in complex cases it is essential that we seek appropriate advice from regional experts to ensure that the right decision is made.

"We are pleased that a decision has been made so that treatment can proceed as swiftly as possibly.

“We do appreciate that these processes are very difficult for families especially at such a distressing time but these are procedures that we have to follow.”