Girl's cancer plea to PM after swimmer's tears

An 11-year-old with brain cancer has made a plea to the prime minister after being inspired by the emotional appeal of a Commonwealth Games athlete.

Emilia, from Whittle-Le-Woods in Lancashire, was diagnosed with a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) brain tumour a year ago.

She said she had been moved when Scottish swimmer Archie Goodburn, who has incurable brain cancer, broke down in tears on BBC Breakfast recently while calling for the government to help fund research.

The schoolgirl said she was "one of the people" Goodburn had been speaking up for, and that she had "felt very sorry for Archie being alone".

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he will meet 25-year-old Goodburn.

Goodburn made his plea to Burnham after he finished seventh in the 50m breaststroke at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The 25-year-old Scottish record holder said: "I'm on my knees begging, for not just my own life but for those of my best friends and for those affected, and families all around the country.

"Things have to change. It has been going on far too long and the suffering is unbearable."

Emilia sent a video message to Andy Burnham herself after seeing Goodburn's BBC Breakfast appearance.

She said: "I am one of the people Archie was talking about."

Emilia added: "My family were told there was nothing much that we could do."

The DIPG Emilia has is a rare form of fast-growing tumour that affects about 40 children a year in the UK, and for which treatment options are "limited", according to an NHS paper published in 2018.

But there have been clinical trials aimed at finding new treatments, one of which Emilia has been taking part in.

She told Burnham that while her tumour was "responding to the trial", she "doesn't know what is next".

Emilia added: "Please help us put money and attention into brain cancer trials.

"You can't change the future by standing still but we can work together to change the future for people like Archie and me who want to do anything but stand still."

Appearing on BBC Breakfast, she said: "I just want of more money going into the trials, and I felt very sorry for Archie being alone, so I joined in.

"He said we can't change the future by standing still, so the action is now."

The schoolgirl said she thought Goodburn was very "brave".

Her mother Kayleigh Atkinson said: "The clinical trials she has been on have been funded by charities which are created by parents who have lost children.

"It is not good enough.

"When we saw Archie's message, we knew we had to do it from a child's perspective as well.

"It is very easy to hide behind statistics.

"One child every nine days is diagnosed with her tumour type."

She added: "Clinical trials can offer hope and progress."

"I hope the Prime Minister responds."

After Goodburn made his plea to Burnham, the PM responded on the social media site TikTok, saying: "Archie, thank you for this. I know how hard it must have been.

"What you're doing for other people while you're going through all this yourself shows the best of us.

"I'd really like to meet you and hear from you directly and I've asked my team to get in touch."

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