LITTLE Megan Rajah flies out to America today in a last-ditch attempt to save her young life.

The toddler has a brain tumour and will die unless a computer-aided operation by leading US surgeon Patrick Kelly is a success.

Her parents Walter and Julie, from Sale, have been astounded by the support they have received from M.E.N. readers who have helped them raise the £50,000 needed for the pioneering surgery.

The 20-month-old suffers from a rare brain tumour, located dangerously close to her brain stem and has already undergone one unsuccessful operation and months of chemotherapy at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital.

Her parents have suffered months of anguish since their baby was rushed into hospital last New Year's Eve. Today, at last, they were daring to hope as they counted down for take-off.

Cash donations

And it was all made possible by M.E.N. readers who helped smash the £50,000 barrier needed for the ground-breaking surgery after her plight was highlighted just over a week ago.

''We just can't get our heads round how much money we've raised and it's still pouring in,'' said Julie.

''We can't even begin to thank all the people who have donated money - it's amazing.''

Only days ago the couple, who had raised £35,000, was racing against time to raise the extra £15,000 needed to fund computer-aided surgery by leading US surgeon Dr Patrick Kelly. Now the appeal has raised £63,000.

The Rajahs contacted Dr Kelly after initially being told by doctors in Manchester that there was no hope of the tumour shrinking. It is particularly difficult to operate on because of its position in the middle of Megan's brain.

Complex operation

The family was told the complex operation could be performed in Britain but information about NHS success rates is not generally available. So Walter and Julie have put their trust in the American surgeon's 97 per cent success rate.

They were given further hope via the Internet when they discovered one of Dr Kelly's successes was living just a few miles from their own home.

Alicia McCluckie, now 10, flew to the US to undergo surgery on a similar tumour six years ago and defied predictions that she would die.

At one point Malaysian-born Walter thought he would have to miss his daughter's life-or-death surgery because of red tape with his visa application.

Walter said: ''It was absolutely awful - I was basically told I would have to miss Meggie's operation because there was no way of speeding up the 20-day process. It was not like I needed it for a holiday, it was an emergency.''

However, after days of phone calls to the US embassy, he was finally given his visa.

Megan has a consultation with Dr Kelly on Wednesday. If all goes well, the operation is scheduled for December 18, with the family due to fly home just after Christmas.

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