CHARLOTTE: BRAIN stem glioma is one of the rarest forms of cancer, but Charlotte survived longer than anyone predicted thanks to a new drug, Chloripramine.

Doctors thought she had only a few months to live, but her family scoured the internet for possible cures and discovered the drug which had helped adults with the disease live longer.

Chloripramine has been used as an anti-depressant and recent research by cancer expert Professor Geoffrey Pilkington shows it is capable of destroying cancer cells and regenerating brain tissue. Once Charlotte began taking the drug last year tests suggested her tumour had shrunk.

Professor Pilkington said: "Although we know Chloripramine works in some cases we are still uncertain of the precise dose and how it affects children.

"Brain tumours account for 25 per cent of cancers each year, and they tend to carry the worst prognosis.

"The brain is a very complex organ and the problem is knowing what is happening to an individual's tumour. While we are still at the clinical trial stage with chloripramine we are working in the dark.

"Parents must be very brave to make the decision to try a drug when it is at trial stage."

"Charlotte's family have been hugely proactive and have done everything possible to extend the length and quality of her life."