THE family of a five-year-old girl with cancer said time was running out to raise £250,000 for her treatment as her condition worsens.

A scan this week revealed the tumour in Madison Allan’s stomach had grown considerably and was now pushing against her liver and stomach, and also damaging her kidney.

The Lower Darwen Primary School pupil is re-starting her chemotherapy in a bid to shrink the 'spaghetti-like' neuroblastoma, at Manchester Children’s Hospital.

Madison’s mum Samantha, of Lords Crescent, Lower Darwen, said: “She’s in severe pain and is slowly giving up.

“The chemo will hopefully start to shrink the tumour ready for when we have enough money to be able to send her for surgery abroad.

“Nothing else has worked, but if we don’t do this, then we sit back and let it grow until it’s too late.

“At the moment she’s not eating, and is being fed through a line, but even that’s coming back.

"Because she’s so poorly the hospital have kept her in rather than send her home.”

The Madison Allan Appeal was set up last month to raise money to send her to Germany or America for surgery to remove part of the tumour through innovative treatment not available in the UK.

An operation last November in Manchester was aborted because she lost too much blood.

So far £25,000 has been raised. Newly-opened Primark in The Mall in Blackburn presented Madison with a cheque for £5,000.

Samantha added: “We were really amazed when Primark gave us the money.

“But we still need a hell of a lot more.

“I don’t want it to look like we’re scrounging, but every penny counts.”

* You can donate online at www.bmycharity.com/v2/madisonallanappeal