The family of a three-year-old girl suffering from leukaemia have moved into hospital to be near her.

Chloe Mulchrone was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia 12 weeks ago and could face up to a year of treatment in St James's Hospital, Leeds.

But her parents, David Mulchrone, 29, and Carrie McKenny, 22, are staying in a special parents' unit at the hospital to be by their daughter.

Now friends and family are raising money for the Bradford youngster in a bid to send her on a dream holiday to America.

David, an assistant manager with a Bradford company, said: "Because Chloe has got this type of leukaemia, the only way to treat it is with intense chemotherapy for six months.

"She's had three lots in 12 weeks but it's going to take us a lot longer as she keeps getting infections and her treatment is delayed. We take it in turns to sleep in her room with her as she gets so poorly. She has to be fed through a drip and is on morphine for pain relief.

"Chloe is a real fighter and has got great spirit. At one point she had five infections and food poisoning but she still managed to fight back."

Carrie said: "We were completely gutted when we found out and we just couldn't stop crying. She suddenly developed hundreds of bruises all over her body and lumps in her neck.

"We rushed her to the doctors who sent her for a blood test and 12 hours later she was in St James's having a blood transfusion. The doctors said if we hadn't caught it then Chloe would have died within two days to a week.

"It was too much for us to take in. Discovering she had leukaemia was a massive blow but then we found out that it was the rare type. We were just devastated.

"We've been told that Chloe has a 50 per cent chance of survival so we just have to hope she'll pull through.

"Because of the type of leukaemia she's got, there's also a 60 per cent chance that it could come back again after the treatment. The only other alternative then would be a bone marrow transplant."

Fundraisers at pubs around the district including The Albion in Greengates, The Roebuck, The Slip and The Cricketers Arms in Eccleshill have raised more than £2,000 to send Chloe to Disneyworld in Florida after her treatment.

"We've just been so amazed by people's kindness," said Carrie. "People we don't even know have been organising events for Chloe and David's family have even been fundraising for us in Cheshire.

"At the moment, we're just living day-to-day and our main aim is to get her home."

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