LITTLE Megan Rajah is now waiting in New York for her life-saving operation after an amazing response to her parents' appeal for help in SAM.

Messenger readers have helped to raise a total of £68,778 to send the 21 month-old from Sale for an operation on a rare brain tumour.

Her parents, Julie and Walter, had aimed to raise £50,000 for the complex operation. They opted to take Megan to the New York University Medical Centre to be operated on by top neurosurgeon Dr Patrick Kelly, after initial tests at Pendlebury Children's Hospital suggested it was inoperable.

They only started fundraising on November 14, but, thanks to their friends, family and work colleagues, as well as complete strangers, they quickly passed their target.

The extra money will be used for any medical care Megan needs after the initial operation. She is currently undergoing tests before the main operation, which is scheduled for December 18.

The operation is the last throw of the dice for the toddler, who was diagnosed as having Choroid Plexus Carcinoma after being taken to hospital on New Year's Eve last year.

An operation at Pendlebury Children's Hospital only removed half of the tumour because surgeons felt it was too dangerous to remove it completely. Intensive chemotherapy controlled the size of the growth but failed to reduce it, leaving Julie and Walter in despair.

Walter then looked on the Internet for alternative cures, which was when he found out about Dr Kelly in New York. He got in touch with Faye McCluckie, whose daughter, Alicia McCluckie, had a similar tumour successfully operated on by him when she was one.

Although surgeons at Pendlebury offered to carry out the operation, Julie and Walter felt that Dr Kelly was more experienced and would give their daughter a better chance of survival.

The family should return from America before the end of the year. To follow Megan's progress in New York, visit her website, www.meganrajah.org.