A SCHOOLGIRL who is living with a brain tumour has launched a Christmas appeal to help find a cure.

Katie Milliken, who is 11, is hoping to raise £5000 by sharing her story of hope over the festive period.

Her mum, Louise, said: “I would do anything to make my daughter better, but the sad truth is there is no cure. Our only hope is a breakthrough in research.”

Katie, who is now 11, was a toddler when her parents were told she had an inoperable brain tumour.

She had just started nursery, and her parents had noticed she was having problems with balance and co-ordination.

“It had been passed off as nothing serious,” explained Louise. “Eventually, I was in a state of desperation,and we were referred to a paediatric consultant.

“On January 12, 2011, Katie had an MRI, and we waited for the results. We waited a long time, longer than we had expected and then they broke the news - our daughter had a brain tumour.”

Louise added: “Cerebral spinal fluid was building up and putting pressure on her brain. We were transferred to a specialist unit for emergency surgery that day. In the space of a few hours our world had changed for ever.”

Over the last seven years, Katie has endured years of operations, chemotherapy, invasive treatments and countless hospital visits.

Just recently she suffered a major seizure but thankfully, she is recovering well and looking forward to Christmas at home in Clarkston with her mum, dad Ken and sister Charlotte, who is eight.

Louise said: “Katie has continued to amaze us all with her courage and positive outlook. She’s a real chatterbox and thinks nothing of standing up in a room full of strangers and telling them about her disease.”

Katie’s tumour is a low-grade juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma, located deep in the middle of her brain which makes it inoperable.

Louise said: “Katie knows there is something in her head which can’t be fixed.

“The reality is that the tumour will always be here, it is not something which can be dealt with to allow us to move onto the next chapter, we will always have to manage our lives around it.”

The family travelled to Jacksonville, Florida, for three months of proton beam therapy but sadly, the treatment was unsuccessful.

“We were devastated,” said Louise. “Katie has also had to ensure months in a wheelchair and horrible steroid treatment.”

Treatment has left the young girl with poor co-ordination and balance - she can no longer run properly and has had to learn to write with her left hand.

But while her life is far from that of a typical 11-year-old, Katie still manages to attend school almost full-time.

Louise, who ran the London Marathon to raise funds for the charity, added: “Life is so fragile. It is just tragic to think that we are not alone – 16,000 people are diagnosed with a brain tumour each year and the disease kills more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer.

“Yet just one percent of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease.”

Joe Woollcott, community fundraising manager for Brain Tumour Research, said: “We are so grateful to Katie for helping to launch our Christmas fundraising appeal in Scotland.

“Katie is such a wonderful little girl and you can’t help but be touched by her warm personality. I really hope that people will get behind her and give what they can this Christmas time.”

Louise said: “Katie is missing out on so much although she has worked so hard to rehabilitate herself.

“One of the most heartbreaking things for me is seeing children running around and playing with their siblings and having to live with the knowledge that Katie and Charlotte have been robbed of that.”

To make a donation visit www.braintumourresearch.org/our-christmas-wish/katie-milliken