A proud mum has hailed the bravery of her baby girl who is on the last leg of treatment after having a huge tumour removed from her throat.
Doctors were on standby as Isabel Roberts was born to insert a tube into her throat as the tumour, the size of an orange, was crushing her airway and she was unable to breathe.
She and her twin sister Alexandra were delivered by Caesarean last September and Isabel's tumour was picked up on a scan at the 33-week stage of mum, Maureen Wyatt's pregnancy.
The cancerous growth was removed and Isabel now has four weeks left of her six month chemotherapy plan.
Maureen, 33, of Fearnley Road, Hoyland, said: "She is a little fighter and she is doing really really well. Obviously with her being so little it is not affecting her that much and she just seems to handle it pretty well."
The tumour weighed a sixth of Isabel's 3lb 9oz bodyweight and Maureen says Isabel is smaller than her twin sister as a result.
Maureen and partner Simon Roberts, 29, were allowed to bring Alexandra home after the birth but Isabel was not discharged from Sheffield Children's Hospital until November.
She was kept in an incubator and had to be fed through a tube because of throat and chest problems and was only allowed to be bottle fed, via a tube, the week before she came home.
She also has a tube in her chest for her chemotherapy drugs to be administered.
But Maureen says it does not bother her: "I think once Isabel finishes chemotherapy she will soon catch Alexandra up in weight.
"She is very smiley and very chatty, she is great."
Maureen says she and Simon are hoping to take the twins away on holiday once Isabel has finished treatment.
Maureen and Simon found out Isabel had the growth after an ultrasound 33-weeks into pregnancy.
A spokesman for Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust said children being born with cancer was rare.
Dr Anna Jenkins, consultant oncologist at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is treating Isabel. She said: "It is very rare for a baby to be born with such a large cancerous tumour. She is coping well with treatment, the cancer hasn't spread and we are expecting her to make a full recovery."
