PROUD mum Rebecca Brown shed tears of joy as she watched her little girl's dream come true playing an angel in her nursery nativity play.

It was an emotional scene she feared her daughter Kirstin might never see after she was diagnosed with life-threatening Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) when she was only 21-months-old.

Now aged three, she's had to go through a year-and-a-half of intensive treatment including gruelling chemotherapy sessions and painful lumbar punctures. Thanks to Kirstin's bravery and treatment from doctors at Glasgow's Yorkhill Hospital, she was well enough join her classmates and sing her favourite Christmas carols.

Although she still needs weekly chemotherapy, Kirstin is responding well and is now going through the maintenance part of her treatment plan, which means the cancer cells are at bay.

Seeing her proudly perform in her nursery's nativity is the best Christmas present she could have wished for.

Rebecca, of East Renfrewshire, also mum to Calum, five, said: "I'd never have dreamed this would have been possible when Kirstin was so unwell.

"To see her looking so happy and so much healthier than she has been is just like a dream come true.

"I've been in tears when she's been practicing her little songs for the play in the house, it was so emotional watching her actually perform with her friends." Kirstin has just been given a Cancer Research UK Little Star award, a joint venture between the charity and TK Maxx to recognise the courage of children who have been diagnosed with cancer.

Her type of leukaemia, ALL, is the most common type of leukaemia among children.

Every year around 8600 people are diagnosed with leukaemia in the UK, but of those only around 650 will have ALL, with roughly half the number of cases being in adults and half in children.

Clinical trials funded by Cancer Research UK are vital in developing new treatments for the disease.

During the last 40 years, more than 15,000 more children in Britain have beaten cancer than would have done if survival had remained the same as in the 1970s.

Rebecca will never forget the day in July 2013 when she was told her baby had the disease and would face years of intense treatment to beat it.

She said: "Kirstin had been unwell since May last year. She'd had a high temperature and was really lethargic and pale, but it was just continually put down to her having something viral or a throat infection.

"As a mum, though, you know your own child. I was certain there was more to it.

"It was only after she started convulsing at a barbecue one Sunday afternoon that we discovered what was really wrong. Her iron levels were basically at zero and after blood tests, we got the terrible news that she had leukaemia. We were shell-shocked. She was just a baby.

"My immediate reaction was 'we're going to lose her'. I couldn't think straight.

"It was a relief when it was explained to us that the survival rates for this type of cancer are good."

But after six weeks of chemo, Kirstin wasn't responding as well as hoped.

Doctors had to move her into the high-risk category and change her drug regimen.

A full year of chemotherapy followed, including around 15 visits to the operating theatre for lumbar puncture procedures where chemo drugs are injected straight into the spinal chord fluid.

Rebecca added: "She was a very unwell little girl for that entire year and it was utterly heart-breaking. Just as she'd be recovering from one bout of chemo, another would start.

"Even when we were out of hospital, we could barely leave the house because of the risk of infection.

"Kirstin could never go to soft play or go swimming like other little ones. It's like she lost an entire year of her life." Since finishing her intensive treatment in July this year and moving on to the maintenance phase, Kirstin is beginning to flourish.

Her hair is growing back and she was well enough to begin nursery three weeks ago.

Rebecca said: "It was a time of real mixed emotions. On one hand I was so proud of her, so pleased at seeing her getting the chance to be a 'normal' little girl, but on the other hand, my heart is in my mouth at the thought of her catching an infection.

"The benefits of her going to nursery far outweigh the risks of infection. She's thriving there and it's lovely to see."

Maintenance treatment is scheduled to last another year and the family hope she'll be treatment free by the time she starts school the following

year.

Rebecca added: "She really is my little star. She's so resilient and she has utterly amazed me at every step.

"Even when she's been so unwell, her mouth all covered in ulcers, she's tried to eat, even through the pain. Her determination is unbelievable.

"My little boy Calum has been inspirational too. He's been so understanding of what's been going on, even though he's

only five. He's a little star as well.

"As a mum of a child with cancer, I'll always be anxious. When Kirstin's treatment stops, it won't be a time for celebration, we've just got to hope that it's worked and it gets 100 per cent of the cancerous cells. It's all about staying positive.

"As I see her thriving and blossoming into this independent, confident little person, I couldn't be more proud."