A four-year-old Irish girl from County Cork will arrive home in Ireland this weekend to a hero's welcome after a successful nine months battle in the U.S. against a rare brain tumor.

Megan Malone, from Kilnamartyra, was given just weeks to live after being diagnosed with the cancerous tumour last October. But her parents refused to accept the prognosis, and instead they stopped their daughter’s treatment in Dublin to take her to New York.


Megan’s father John told the Irish Examiner: "It was a difficult decision in many ways to come here but I think the hardest decision we had to make was stopping the chemotherapy in Dublin."

READ MORE:

US immigration authorities ask to see Megan Malone’s fund details

Miracle girl Megan is cancer-free after US treatment

Little Megan Malone's sweet Easter

Megan was treated in the specialist Head Start treatment program at New York Presbyterian Children’s Hospital, where her condition improved.



"This is the end of a long road for all our family and we are all eagerly looking forward to returning home after nine months in the U.S.," John added.


"We will have to schedule an MRI scan in Ireland for two months' time and every three months thereafter for the first year and every six months after that.



"Once home and once we have all received our flu shots in October, Megan may be able to attend playschool but we’ll see how she is and if we feel she’s up to it. One day at a time.



"We may return to Boston once a year as we have signed up to a clinical trial here which requires us to return once a year for the next eight years."