'Miracle girl' excited to start school

Millie Cowan says a doctor's knock knock jokes kept her spirits up when she was feeling "yucky" during treatment. Photo / ODT

Millie Cowan has just turned 5 and she is relishing starting school tomorrow, but her mum Carole Cowan admits it is a day her daughter may not have reached.

She said Millie had been in and out of Dunedin Hospital for about three months with high fevers and a large growth on her neck.

The lump, about the size of an orange, turned out to be a tumour.

It was metastatic neuroblastoma - a nerve cancer - and she was sent to Christchurch Hospital for treatment.

Cowan said the prognosis was "touch and go".

"They called her a miracle girl because she survived even though the odds were stacked against her."

Millie said she felt "really yucky" at times and the only things that kept her spirits up were the toys and the knock-knock jokes told by one of the doctors.

Cowan said Millie was now in remission, but there was a 40 per cent chance of the cancer returning.

Having not had the opportunity to go to kindergarten, Millie was most looking forward to making friends and playing with people her own age. With a few knock-knock jokes up her sleeve, it is unlikely she will have any problems making new friends.