A SIX-year-old girl is back at school for the first time since before Christmas after bravely battling leukaemia.

Lauren Down, from Wrantage, is in full remission, but things looked bleaker when she started to feel unwell last October.

But following months of treatment, she was back at her desk at North Curry Primary School for the start of the school year this month.

Lauren will continue with chemotherapy and steroid treatment for 18 months, but she popped along to Musgrove Park Hospital yesterday (Wednesday) thank staff for caring for her.

She told the County Gazette: “I’m feeling really well now.

“Going back to school was a bit scary because I couldn’t remember where I had to go or the teachers, but I’m enjoying it now.”

Lauren’s parents Rodney and Clare first noticed a problem when Lauren developed a limp, began to look washed out, cried easily, had a pin prick rash on her leg and lumps on her neck.

A specialist swiftly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and she was admitted to Cardiff Children’s Hospital for 12 nights as she underwent chemotherapy.

Lauren’s treatment was increased as she did not reach remission within 28 days, and as well as being off school, she had dozens of hospital appointments.

Claire said: “She’s in full remission now, although she’s still having treatment.

“She lost her hair twice – which she just accepted - but now she wants to grow it long.

“She’s taken it amazingly and never moans that she doesn’t want to go to hospital.

“When we heard she had leukaemia, the first 24 hours were terrible. When I told my mum, she screamed down the phone, ‘Not Lauren’.

“But as a family, this has made us stronger. You just get on with it, you don’t have time to think about it.

“Long term, she should be fine and should be able to have children.”

Lauren was at Musgrove yesterday to present an infusion pump for administering chemotherapy to Oak Ward and iPads to the hospital school.

They were bought with £2,135 raised from a charity ball organised by family friends Kevin and Jenny Elsley, while North Curry Primary School, which provided home schooling for Lauren during her absence, donated £445 raised from their summer play performances.