Ashya King's parents say that he is now free from cancer.

The parents of Ashya King were detained after they took him abroad for treatment for his brain tumour.

12:31 23 March 2015

Brett and Naghemeh King took their son, against medical advice, from a hospital in Southampton, to Prague for treatment unavailable in the UK.  They were, for this, detained in a prison in Madrid.

 

In August 2014, the Kings disagreed with doctors in Southampton and took their son, against advice, for proton therapy, which cannot be carried out in the UK.  However, they were arrested and held in Soto Del Real Prison in Madrid.  They were held for over 24 hours and efforts to extradite them to Britain were abandoned, due to the prosecutors stating that any risk to Ashya's life was not as immediate as first thought.

 

Ashya had already had two operations on his brain.  The first on the 22nd July, when the Medulloblastoma was successfully removed by surgeons in Southampton and a second on 24th August.  These operations left Ashya unable to speak, feed himself or drink and reliant on a food pump.

 

Mr and Mrs King wanted to seek the proton therapy to prevent the cancer from returning.  The treatment targets the affected cells and healthy tissue remains untouched.

 

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, said that Ashya's chance of survival was very good with regular treatment and "there would be no benefits to him of proton radiotherapy over standard radiotherapy."

 

The Kings arranged for proton therapy in Prague and travelled to Spain, where they have a holiday home.

 

Ashya received treatment in a hospital in Malaga while his parents were arrested in Madrid.

 

Mr King said, in a Sun interview, that his son was now free from cancer and was able to speak and play with his brother and sister.

 

Mr King says he is delighted.

 

Proton therapy uses charged particles instead of x-rays to treat patients.  It is targeted at the affected cells and not the surrounding tissue. There are also, in general, fewer side effects then x-ray treatments.

 

The Department of Health in 2011, said that from 2018, proton therapy will be available in London and Manchester.