Girl, 6, who had brain tumour as baby bids for Christmas hit single

Girl, 6, who had brain tumour as baby bids for Christmas hit single

A six-year-old girl who had a brain tumour removed when she was a baby is hoping for a Christmas number one after releasing a charity single.

Lyra Cole, who underwent emergency surgery when she was five months old, has teamed up with her aunt to record a version of When A Child Is Born to raise money for Brain Tumour Research.

“I’m really hoping that the song makes it into the Christmas charts,” she said. “That would be a dream come true.”

Lyra, from Highbridge in Somerset, underwent an 11-hour operation to have a brain tumour the size of an orange removed from the back of her head when she was an infant after initially being misdiagnosed as having a virus.

She then needed a further operation to restore her sight when doctors found a cyst growing on her optic nerve.

Lyra Cole with her dad Dan Cole, mum Ellie Hawkes and brother Charlie
Lyra Cole with her dad Dan Cole, mum Ellie Hawkes and brother Charlie (Brain Tumour Research)

According to Brain Tumour Research, brain tumours kill more children and adults under 40 then any other cancer – but just 1% of cancer research funding in the UK goes towards studying them.

When A Child Is Born was a number one hit for Johnny Mathis in the UK in 1976 and has also been covered by artists including Cliff Richard, Boney M and Susan Boyle.

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