An early Christmas for Leo the Lion

THE FAMILY of Leo Bermejo, the always smiling little boy from Almeria with a brain cancer tumour, is planning an early Christmas party for their ‘lion’ after receiving devastating news from a world-renowned neurosurgeon.

Over the past two years the brave four-year-old, known by his supporters as Leo the Lion, has undergone surgery at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in the UK and travelled  to Oklahoma in the States.

His supporters raised thousands of euros for the cutting-edge treatment in a campaign that was regularly featured by the Euro Weekly News.

But after Leo’s last MRI scan in Spain it was discovered a tumour was still there – and growing – reaching almost 9cm in length now.

The family have been told that the bigger the tumour gets the faster it grows, as cells are dividing and reproducing.

After reviewing the latest scan results in the UK top brain surgeon Conor Malucci told the heart-broken family that he feels that it is too dangerous to perform any more operations.

Mum Karen said, “As hard it is to hear we trust Alder Hey – the hospital that has never let us down  – and the neurosurgeon who is world-renowned.

“Leo is well now and we need to enjoy and treasure this time with him.”

She added, “As hard as it is we have to come to the realisation that we cannot save Leo now. His fate is out of our hands.”

Now Leo’s family is pulling out all the stops to organise a special early family-only  Christmas for him.

Karen said, “Leo is not really interested in the Three Kings or Santa as they scare him a bit. What he does really love is ‘Frozen’.

“He would absolutely love for the Ana and Elsa characters to sing to him. It would be the best present ever.”