CHARLOTTE Wakeham, the eight-year-old schoolgirl fighting the effects of an inoperable brain tumour, is likely to fly to the USA in the next two weeks to undergo treatment with the controversial drug Thalidomide.

Thalidomide got a bad press in the 1960s when children were born with severe deformities after their mothers had taken the drug to combat morning sickness.

But recently it has been hailed as a wonder drug and Dana-Farber Institute in Boston, Massachusetts is using it to fight brain tumours .

Charlotte's grandmother, Wendy Bryant, who lives in Devizes, was alerted to the new treatment by Audrey Kenward, of Warminster, whose grandson Roan, five, who lives in Australia, was also struck down with a brain tumour which did not respond to surgery or chemotherapy.

Roan's parents, Brian and Carol Clarkson, had heard a combination of thalidomide and chemotherapy had been used with some success on adults with brain tumours in the United States and got permission for the treatment to be used on their son.

A recent brain scan showed his tumour had shrunk to half its former size.

Charlotte's family, who live in Trowbridge, now hope that some of the money raised by well-wishers for Charlotte's Chance Of Life fund can be used to send her to Boston.

Mrs Bryant said: "If Charlotte is a suitable candidate it will be going ahead within the next two weeks. Time is of the essence because once nerve damage has been caused by the tumour, it cannot be repaired."

Charlotte has returned to school for two afternoons a week and it is hoped this can be extended as she continues to recover.