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A family is facing their worst nightmare this Christmas as they watch their ‘princess’ battle with a rare form of cancer.

Little Emily Duffy, 3, from Celbridge, Co Kildare, was diagnosed with stage 4 high-risk Neuroblastoma on November 2 this year, sending her whole family into “shock and disbelief”.

Her parents Gillian and Robert and devoted family and friends are hoping to raise over €300,000 to fund vital treatment in the US for Emily, reports Dublin Live .

A family friend, who is helping to raise the much needed funds, told Dublin Live about the little girl and the challenges ahead.

Kellie Whelan said: “Emily was a healthy, happy, fun-loving child until six weeks ago when they got the devastating diagnosis."

Emily was diagnosed with a rare form of aggressive childhood cancer of the nervous system which effects 1 in 100,000 children in Ireland.

Kellie added: “Unfortunately the relapse rate for this type of cancer is 70%, so when Emily does recover, it’s likely the cancer may come back.”

But she said that family and friends have rallied around Emily’s parents, Gillian and Robert.

She continued: “They’re a young family, Gillian and Robert have a 12-month-old baby boy Luke too so it’s very hard for them.

“It was traumatising for the family to hear Emily’s diagnosis. Emily just started creche and it was all very sudden.

“Emily showed no signs of being unwell in the lead up to her diagnosis and had been to her GP on three separate occasions for a fall she had and it was not detected during the visits.”

Kellie said the family are finding it hard to cope with the sudden diagnosis and everyone is trying their best to raise vital funds for her.

She added: “In the first 48 hours of fundraising we raised over €20,000, we received amazing support and are now over the €50,000 mark, we’re all trying to give Emily the best chance at beating this.

“Emily is currently undergoing a two-year treatment plan in Our Lady’s Hospital in Crumlin with the fantastic paediatric oncology consultant Dr Michael Capra, who has been amazing with the family since they found out.

“The staff of St John’s Ward truly are amazing and do such a wonderful job, something that we can take for granted until it is on our own doorstep.

“The harsh reality is we are fundraising to try and raise over €300,000 as we may need to send Emily to the US to take part in a clinical trial treatment to prevent relapse.

“There are a number of other Irish children over in the US on a clinical trial called DFMO and we’re hoping we can get Emily over too when the time comes.

“She has already started treatment in Crumlin, so far Emily has had four chemotherapy sessions all of which are different, one blood transfusion and will have her fifth chemotherapy session along with a mini assessment this week.

“Emily is only three and the treatment is very aggressive so you can only imagine how this feels for her parents to sit and watch feeling helpless.”

Kellie said that Emily only wears princess dresses and loves Disney’s Frozen.

She added: “She loves everything princess, our friends got pink wristbands with 'A Princess Called Emily' printed on them to help raise awareness.

“It’s very tough for the family going to visit her when she is in hospital suffering instead of seeing their active, happy three-year-old running around in her princess dresses.

"We really need all the help and support we can get on this journey and we would appreciate if everyone could like and share our gofundme ( https://www.gofundme.com/a-princess-called-emily ) and Facebook pages ( https://www.facebook.com/PrincessEmilyDuffy )