Just over 12 months ago, Wendy Keith did not know if her daughter would survive childhood.
Sophia Malloch, just six months old at the time, had a tumour behind her right eye and surgeons had no choice but to remove the eye or else the cancer could spread to her brain.
A year on from the operation, however, and little Sophia is now a picture of health. She is going for her last check-up at Birmingham in October before she can transfer to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee for further monitoring, and Wendy, 34, is now looking forward to a more positive future.
Wendy, who recently moved from Dundee to Aviemore, said: “Sophia has been doing really well.
“This time last year we managed to get the tumour out with the eye, and there’s been no recurrence since then.
“She is thriving. She is walking about and knows some words now, like mum and dad.”
The cancerous growth was first spotted when Wendy was feeding Sophia and noticed a “filming over” of her eye.
When at Ninewells Hospital for an unrelated swallowing problem, Wendy also told the medics about Sophia’s eye and they were quickly sent to specialists in Birmingham who confirmed it was a tumour.
Wendy, Sophia and her two siblings are now set to jet off to the Greek island of Zante with family and friends for their first break since the diagnosis.