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An Irish child is fighting for her life in Chicago this week.

Two-year-old Katie Maguire from Magherafelt in County Derry is in the intensive care unit in Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital after catching pneumonia.

Little Katie was already in Memorial for treatment for an extremely rare form of epilepsy.

Her family has been traveling to the U.S. every three months for treatment for Katie who also has cerebral palsy.

Her father Gary McCann says she is in a "very serious" and "critical" condition.

"This has come as a real shock to us all," he said.

"Katie had been making great progress with her treatment here in America, and things were really looking up for her, but now we are being told that her chances are 50-50.

"We are just hoping and praying that she pulls through this."

Katie was the focus of major fundraising in Ireland so her parents Gary and Mekila Maguire could afford the treatment.

"The support we have received for Katie, since she was born, has been overwhelming," McCann said.

"This treatment is very expensive and we don't know what the hospital bill will be, but that is not something we can even think about right now.