The family of a Workington girl battling cancer for the fourth time has been given fresh hope, two years after doctors told them she was terminally ill.

Emily Shutt, of Railbank Drive, was diagnosed with leukaemia at the age of two.

Despite receiving a bone marrow transplant from her brother Alfie, now nine, the family was told the day before her fifth birthday, that she only had two months to live.

But brave Emily, who turns seven on Monday, defied the odds and the family is preparing to meet with doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital next month to discuss a medical trial. They are hopeful she will be able to get the lifesaving treatment she needs.

Mum Helen said: "The meeting on March 15 is to start liaising with professionals over there. They are now doing some tests on Emily's cells.

"We don't know anything else. We just know if Emily starts the trial it will be a lot of hard work for her and us as a family because we will be separated again.

"Alfie doesn't like us being separated and gets scared of Emily going to hospital every other Thursday. He's a lovely little boy and is always there for Emily."

In her short life, Emily has relapsed three times, has undergone intensive treatment to fight the disease and has been in the operating theatre more than 50 times.

Helen said: "Two years ago Emily had been unwell in the couple of weeks leading up to her birthday but her blood tests kept coming back okay.

"She was looking really poorly. We knew there was something wrong. We took her to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle and that's when they told us that the cancer wasn't in her bone marrow anymore but in her spinal fluid and leading to her brain.

"They told me there was nothing they could do and that Emily had just nine weeks to live.

"I was angry. You just think that after all the treatment and the transplant she should be fixed, but now we know that Emily is really good at getting rid of the cancer to the stage of remission but sadly she can't keep it away.

"We told doctors we wanted her at home as much as possible and some pain treatment to make her comfortable.

"But Emily, being the little fighter that she is, went into remission, which means the cancer was still there but wasn't visible. It wasn't Emily's time to go."

But Emily relapsed again in November.

Helen added: "There are days when she's screaming that she doesn't want to be ill anymore and days, which are very few and far between, where she says she doesn't even feel like she has leukaemia.

"People see her out playing when she's having a good day and think she's better, but then they don't see her for weeks and that's when she's flat on her back.

"She'll turn seven on Monday and we're having a little party for her at The Crafty Workshop, which is what she chose.

"She can't keep up with other children in play areas and it would be upsetting for her.

"She hasn't got many friends, sadly, because of what she's been through and not being able to go to school, but she'll have her small group of friends there and we've got some surprise visitors lined up."

The family have created Emily's Journey, where they tell Emily's story and raise awareness of childhood cancer through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

They are also fundraising to help them support the cost of the trips to London for Emily's treatment.

To donate visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/barrie-shutt-425