Flight on standby in Mexico to bring cancer-stricken Scots girl home to die

A flight is on standby to bring a cancer-stricken Scots child stranded in Mexico home to die.

The family of Olivia Downie are now playing a waiting game as they pray their dying daughter’s condition can improve to allow her to fly back to Scotland.

Olivia Downie, from Fraserburgh, was diagnosed with stage four Neuroblastoma three years ago - an aggressive form of childhood cancer that attacks the nervous system and can affect the lungs, skin and brain.

The seven-year-old's family raised thousands of pounds in order to fly out to Mexico for "last ditch" treatment in an effort to save the youngster. That treatment has now failed and her family wish to get Olivia back home before she dies but doctors have refused to let her travel back to Scotland without specialist medical support.

More than £140,000 has been received in donations following an emotional appeal from her family last week to bring Olivia home and Families Against Neuroblastoma - the charity which organised the trip - said the flight to get the child home had now been paid for and was on standby.

Prior to the family’s appeal on Thursday the fundraising total stood at just over £14,000.

A spokeswoman for the charity said: “Olivia's mum has said through the night that ‘Olivia is still squeezing my hand’. We have every hope to get Olivia home and believe Olivia will know that she is at home surrounded by those who love her most.

“We do not know when Olivia can be moved, all we can say is everything is in place and the team will attempt to bring Olivia home when they feel it is safe to do so.”

The charity said that during the weekend the youngster had also opened her eyes but that renewed attempts to remove Olivia’s life support system had failed.

“The attempt to take Olivia off the ventilator wasn't successful. We have changed our plan slightly to get Olivia home faster and with both Lauren and Steve on board, the plane is already over there, Olivia's uncle will be there on the first plane we can get him on to bring Jessica home,” she said.

The 3000-mile flight to get Olivia home is expected to take between 14 and 16 hours.

Olivia’s father Stephen previously said: "[To get her home] it would mean the whole world, it would mean everything."

On Saturday the estimate for the hospital bill in Mexico was $30,000 but the charity currently does not have an up-to-date figure and is still encouraging people to continue to donate to Olivia’s cause.

The attempt to bring her home hit a setback when NatWest bank, where the charity organising the trip has its account, was hit by a serious technical glitch at the end of last week and the funds donated could not be accessed leading to medics in Mexico to allegedly threaten to stop Olivia’s treatment.

Olivia’s mother Lauren said: “It just shows how kind folk can be and how Olivia has opened people’s eyes to the seriousness of the situation and how caring and supportive the community has been. I don’t expect any numbers to rise and I’m really shocked at that amount.

"It helps us to know there are people at home waiting for us and they want us to come home and they are showing a lot of human compassion for Olivia."

To help Olivia go to her JustGiving page.

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