THE parents locked up for taking cancer lad Ashya King abroad for pioneering treatment say the five-year-old is clear of the disease.
Dad Brett, 51, and mum Naghmeh, 46, were the target of a manhunt after heading to Prague for treatment unavailable on the NHS.
Brett told of his joy after learning scans showed Ashya was now cancer-free, and insisted the five-year-old would not have survived in the NHS.
He said: “It’s incredible news. We are absolutely delighted.
“It has justified everything we have gone through because things are working out for Ashya.
“If we had left Ashya with the NHS we don’t think he would have survived.
“We have saved his life.”
Naghmeh said: “We could not sleep before we got this news — now we are so full of hope for the future. We are jumping up and down with joy. It is a miracle we thought we would never see.”
Staff at the clinic where brave Ashya has been treated expressed their joy at the news.
Director of the Proton Therapy Centre, Jana Kulhankova, said: “If the scans are showing that Ashya is cancer-free as Mr King says than we are thrilled. That is what we have worked for.
“We have no reason to doubt Mr King. He does all that is best for his child.”
Ashya is now making an encouraging recovery at the family’s holiday home in Spain following proton beam therapy in Prague in the Czech Republic.
He is starting to speak again, plays with his brothers and sister in the park and loves Lego and computer games.
The plight of Ashya and his parents made headlines worldwide last summer after they whisked him from Southampton General Hospital to get treatment abroad.
He had undergone surgery on July 23 to remove a large tumour from his brain. It left him very weak and unable to speak, move his fingers or even blink.
As he lay in hospital his parents researched the available post-surgery treatments — vital to stop the cancer regrowing.
They concluded that the best option was proton beam therapy, which precisely targets cancer cells.
Traditional radiotherapy blasts the surrounding area as well.
Brett said: “Traditional radiotherapy is like machine gun fire — it takes out the cancer but also everything around it.
“Proton therapy is like sniper fire. It’s much more precise and far less harmful.
“A radiotherapy beam does not stop and would have come through the back of his head and through his face.
“A proton beam stops and is much less harmful, although the dose of radiation is the same.
“The traditional treatment is from the 1940s, with drugs from the 1970s. Proton beam therapy is more modern.”
But Ashya’s cancer — a medulloblastoma or brain tumour — is not included on the NHS list of cancers that can be referred abroad for proton treatment.
Brett and Naghmeh, of Southsea, Hants, were told Ashya would have to have traditional radiotherapy — even though one consultant admitted proton beam therapy was the best option and was what he would choose for his own son.
Brett said: “The NHS treatment would have damaged his kidney, lungs and liver. We could not put him through that.”
So Brett and Naghmeh decided to take Ashya from hospital and put the entire family on a ferry to Europe, where proton beam therapy was available.
When doctors discovered Ashya was missing they alerted police.
It led to an international manhunt complete with claims that Ashya’s life was in danger. A European Arrest Warrant was issued for Brett and Naghmeh.
The family headed for their holiday home in Spain. Brett and Naghmeh, who are Jehovah’s Witnesses, were arrested in Malaga on August 30.
Ashya was put in a Spanish hospital while the couple were held in a police station.
Brett and Naghmeh were freed after a legal fight and flew Ashya to a private clinic in Prague for proton beam treatment.
A report issued by the centre’s oncology department last week declared Ashya cancer-free — and talked of the vital part proton therapy played.
It said: “We could speculate that Proton Therapy received could be sufficient to sterilise sites of possible future relapses of the tumour and chemotherapy could deteriorate the quality of life of Ashya.”
Ashya is now recovering with his parents, four brothers and sister in a three-bedroom apartment near Marbella.
Naghmeh said: “If we had left Ashya with the NHS in Britain, he would not be with us today.
“He was too weak and would not have survived.”
Brett said: “We’d like to think we have been vindicated but we will always have the doubters.
“However we know we did the right thing for Ashya. We acted out of love. We’d do the same again.
“We were arrested for child cruelty and neglect. But leaving Ashya in the NHS would have been far more cruel.
“It’s not like we wanted a weird native therapy. We asked for a purer form of radiation that is routinely used in America.
“Our family has been uprooted but Ashya’s life is more important. He will always come first.”
Diary of Ashya’s battle for survival
JULY 23, 2014: Ashya is admitted to Southampton Hospital with sickness, poor balance and blurred vision. Scan reveals tumour and fluid on the brain.
JULY 24: Operations to remove tumour and drain fluid. He wakes in vegetative state. Doctors say he needs radiotherapy. Parents research proton beam therapy which he can’t have on NHS.
AUG 28: Brett and Naghmeh remove Ashya from hospital and doctors alert police. Family travel to Cherbourg, France, and drive to southern Spain.
AUG 30: Cops arrest the family at a Malaga hotel. Ashya is taken to hospital in Marbella. The Kings are taken to Madrid for extradition.
SEPT 2: After lawyer’s intervention the family are freed and reunited.
SEPT 8: Ashya admitted to Motol University Hospital, Prague.
SEPT 15
-OCT 10: Proton beam therapy
OCT 26: Transferred to HC International Hospital in Marbella.
OCT 26: Starts physiotherapy.
NOV 3: Starts speech therapy and recovers at home.
FEB 11, 2015: MRI scan finds “no evidence” of tumour.
FEB 16 Brett and medics agree Ashya should not have chemo.
MARCH 20 Marbella hospital says Ashya is clear from cancer and proton therapy was vital to his recovery.
Joy as he yells ‘No!’ at nurse
LITTLE Ashya King’s mum told yesterday of her joy at hearing him speak his first word after cancer treatment — when he yelled: “No!”
Ashya was unable to speak or move following surgery in Britain and had still not uttered a word when he lay surrounded by his family in a Prague clinic after proton beam therapy.
Naghmeh said: “At the clinic we were trying to get him to speak — then this nurse came in with a needle and he suddenly shouted ‘No!’.
“We thought it was a miracle. It really blew our minds.”
For weeks it was the only word Ashya could say.
Naghmeh said: “He was just saying ‘No’ to everything. It was funny.”
But he soon progressed to other words — and now chatters away.
Dad Brett said: “His talking is coming on a lot and you can understand him if you are tuned in.”
Naghmeh added: “If he wants something he asks his brother or sister — they care for him and treat him like normal.”
Right to fight for your son
By DR CAROL COOPER, Sun Doctor
IN Europe people don’t think twice about going to a neighbouring country for another opinion.
In the NHS it doesn’t happen as often and we tend to think it’s a bit abnormal when it does.
Nobody is right 100 per cent of the time, not even doctors. They aren’t robots.
Often, you don’t know until after the event what the best course of action was.
It’s almost impossible for any parent to accept nothing more can be done for a sick child.
And I don’t blame them for wanting to seek another opinion and different treatment.
When it comes to unusual conditions, like some cancers, there isn’t always one best treatment.
Most parents would continue to get advice until they’ve left no stone unturned.
As a parent, I’d do the same.
If you want to get a second opinion, you’re perfectly entitled to one on the NHS.