Delight for Zac: Boy gets cancer trial

17 March 2010, 12:44 | Updated: 17 March 2010, 13:04

A young boy who lost his place on a trial programme because he was too ill has been told he can now take part in the programme.

Zac Knighton-Smith, who was six on Monday, suffers from neuroblastoma which is a very rare form of childhood cancer.

His three year old cousin Chelsea died from the same condition last year.

Zac had been selected for an experimental treatment programme which could boost his chances of survival from around 20 to 70 percent.  But after the tumour in his abdomen was removed, Zac needed extensive chemotherapy and became too ill to take part in the programme.   His family was then faced with the challenge of raising hundreds of thousands of pounds to get him to America where they've been running the trial for several years.

Now the family has been told there will be a second European trial and Zac has been selected.  It's understood he will be flying out to Germany after Easter.

Zac's grandmother, June, told Heart:"we are over the moon, but this is not a total treatment in itself it's not a guaranteed cure.  But it will give him a better chance of survival."