Lily-Mae making progress with treatment

The daughter to two local dance teachers - Lily-Mae Sunni Morrison - has been making great progress as she undergoes treatment for a rare form of cancer. Lily-Mae is the daughter of Judith Sibley and Leighton Morrison and has recently undergone successful surgery to remove a tumour from her lung. In June this year Lily-Mae was diagnosed with stage 4 Neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer that effects one in 100,000 children in Ireland. Lily-Mae's uncle, Paul Hayes, told the Westmeath Independent this week that the cancer has gone from Lily-Mae's skeleton and bone marrow, which is a positive development. She recently underwent five hours of surgery to have the main tumour removed from her lung, but more smaller tumours were discovered. However, he said Lily-Mae has now had 97% of the tumours removed. The medical team also did a stem cell harvest for three days and got enough stem cells. The next part of her treatment will see Lily-Mae in an isolation bed for six weeks from January 6, but first she will get to spend Christmas at home with her family. Lily-Mae's mother Judith founded Shannon Dance Academy in 2002 and both her and Leighton teach classes at the dance school. Lily-Mae herself is also a keen dancer and as part of the fundraising effort to raise money for her treatment, and to assist her parents who have had to give up work, a group of musicians and a choir of 250 people from musical societies across the country recorded Elton John's 'Tiny Dancer' and are hoping to make it the Christmas number one. Paul Hayes explained that local man Paul Donnelly, who was a member of the choir, has given up work for the past two weeks and has been operating a stand at Athlone Towncentre, where he has been selling copies of the CDs. It is the only place in the Athlone area to buy a hard copy of the song or you can also purchase it on itunes. Lily-Mae's uncle added that half of the money raised from the sale of 'Tiny Dancer' will be donated to the Neuroblastoma Society, which is based in the UK. He said there is no such organisation in Ireland at present. He explained that only small amounts of the money raised has been used to date, for things such as fuel for driving to Dublin and food, but the larger amount of money will be used in the case of the family having to go abroad for treatment if Lily-Mae were to have a relapse. He explained that 70% of children with Neuroblastoma relapse in the first two years and as there is limited treatment in Ireland in this instance the family would travel to either Germany or the US in the case of a relapse. He added, however, that the happiest day of his life would be that Lily-Mae doesn't relapse and he can give a hand cheque over for research. To date €150,000 has been raised as part of the fundraising drive, with events being held all over the country. In a blog on the trust's website - www.thesunnimaetrust.ie - Lily-Mae's mother Judith wrote this week: "My daughter could be the next Beethoven, the next Einstein, the next Margot Fonteyn; I don't care what she is, as long as she lives. "I have led a privileged life on stage, touring the world, dancing amazing roles and now directing two successful ballet companies. I would amputate my legs in a heartbeat, if it meant it would cure her cancer. But it will not, only medicine and a miracle will. "Make 'Tiny Dancer' number 1 for my girl this Christmas, so one day, I hope, a long, long time from now, I can tell my girl what an amazing thing this country did for her at Christmas 2012."