The parents of a three-year-old Workington girl with an inoperable brain tumour are rallying the troops to help raise money to send her to Disneyland.

Arabella Kelly was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour last year. She had an operation to remove the tumour and her family was told that it had been completely removed.

After a six months course of chemotherapy she was given a routine MRI scan and on June 13 parents Jessica Blacklock and Dean Kelly received the devastating news that the tumour had returned and were told that it is in an inoperable part of Arabella's brain.

Jessica said: "When the original tumour was discovered Arabella had an operation to remove it and we were told that they had removed the whole thing. But after six months of chemotherapy a routine MRI scan in May showed that the tumour had come back. Not in the original place as that part of the brain had filled up with fluid, but on the stem of the brain which is a vital part of the brain which is connected to the nervous system, so it will not be possible to operate."

Jessica said that it has not travelled to the spine but must be a really aggressive tumour to have come back. It comes under a muscle tumour, which has not been found in the brain before.

Arabella has been receiving treatment at the Great North Children's Hospital at the RVI in Newcastle, where her condition is so rare that doctors have not been able to put a name to it and have sent off tissue samples in order to find out more.

Jessica said: "They've never seen anything like it before in the molecular testing, they've never seen it in the brain like this before. Samples have been sent to America and London and will go into a tumour research bank for further tests in the hope it can help others in the future."

The three-year-old is about to undergo an intense radiotherapy session over the next two weeks in order to shrink the tumour as much as possible. Her mother was taking her to get her mask fitted for the treatment yesterday (Thursday).

When members of the Eat Train Live gym at Lillyhall heard that Arabella had the tumour they immediately began a fundraising campaign so that enough money could be raised to send Arabella to Disneyland to meet the Disney princesses and give the little girl the trip of a lifetime.

So far the gym team, who call themselves Arra's Army, has taken part in an in-house rowing challenge where members rowed 1 million metres and Lorraine Mills, Karen McKelvey and Emma Hanley have raised £700 by taking part in the Liverpool half-marathon.

Donations have poured in from Unite at Sellafield, Distington Rugby club, Workington Pool League, Argo Fitness, Trainrite and Etch twenty eight and at the moment the fund stands at over £6700.

Fundraising plans include taking part in the 12km Born Survivor assault course at Lowther Park in September, a sled push carrying weights from Allonby to The Beacon, a charity ball and Christmas ball.

Carla Quirk, who runs Eat Train Live with husband Michael, said: "We'd like to do some kind of day that Arabella will be able to go to with her friends, so we'd like to do a fun day too."

30 members of the Eat Train Live gym at Lillyhall, along with Jessica and Arabella's grandad, Geoff Blacklock, will be scaling Scafell Pike on Saturday to fundraise.

Carla said: "We're just going to keep going and keep going and raise as much as we can for Arabella. All the members here are doing as much as they can."

Jessica has been fundraising separately for the Brain Tumour charity in the hope that they will find a cure and will take part in the Great North run in September. She has already raised £4000 for them so far.

Anyone that would like to raise money for Arabella's fund can go to the funding page at https://www.gofundme.com/f/send-arabella-to-disney-land or contact Carla Quirk on 07591325133