Amelia, 10, celebrates end of treatment with her family after nine months in hospital with bone cancer

But for Amelia Spalding and her family, the experience was made even more challenging due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now the 10 year-old from Montgomery, Powys, is finally back home after nine months of treatments and operations and has rung the end of treatment bell at hospital and at home to officially celebrate.

Amelia's mum, Nicky, said the past nine months had been the hardest they had ever faced, but they were thrilled to have Amelia back home again and on the steady road to recovery.

When she was diagnosed with Osteoblastic Osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer found in her right leg, back in April 2020, the country was in the midst of a global pandemic.

Amelia, who was only nine when she was diagnosed, and her mum had to go to hospital in Birmingham, London and Telford, while her dad, Tom, and brother, Sam, 15, weren't able to attend due to the coronavirus safety restrictions.

So when Amelia finally left hospital on January 15 and rang the ward's end of treatment bell, her family weren't there to see it.

They got in touch with the End of Treatment Bells, a charity that provides bells for children to ring at the end of their treatment, to send one out to their house.

"It seemed a shame her dad and brother couldn't watch her ring it," Nicky said. "So the next day we rang the bell outside the house so her brother and dad could watch and a few neighbours looked on. It was lovely."

Nicky said Amelia is recovering well at home and she noticed her daughter's hair has started to grow back as well. Amelia had to undergo 10 gruelling weeks of chemotherapy and an operation to remove the bones in her right leg and replace them with prosthetics to eliminate the cancer cells completely.

Early last year there were no signs of the cancer, but seemingly overnight in April 2020, Amelia's right knee swelled up and she was, thankfully, quickly diagnosed.

Over the 10 weeks of chemotherapy, the cancer in her right leg had grown 17cm and doctors had to operate to remove it from her bones.

Nicky said: "It was 6cm from her hip down to about 15cm from her ankle. All those bones were removed. Only then once they had taken them out could they use something to see how the cells had responded to the treatment. They found that even though the cancer had grown quickly, the cells they targeted had actually died. There was a 95 per cent death rate for the cells.

"The prosthetics were then put in. Bone cancers can appear when you're going through a growth spurt and that obviously lasts for a number of years, but we are hopeful."

Nicky said she was so proud of her daughter and the consultants had also praised how well Amelia had handled treatment and come through the other side.

"The doctors have said she doesn't need to have as much medicine now – just in the morning and on the weekend," Nicky said. "She has an open wound on her leg from the surgery and now she is off the chemotherapy consultants are hopeful the wound will start to heal.

"Hopefully she will just keep getting stronger and some day be able to ride a bike again – that was her favourite thing to do, riding and motocross. I'm looking forward to her doing all the things eight- to 10-year-olds do and looking forward to the mischief happening again."

Amelia, who her parents described as having a "wicked sense of humour and endless optimism", said she was so happy to be home. When asked if her friends had missed her, she said she was able to talk to her friends on WhatsApp thanks to a phone Tesco gave her.

A fundraiser was set up last year by Nicky and Tom after a friend suggested it, and they have since raised nearly £6,000 to take Amelia on her dream holiday and buy her an electric bike.

Nicky said: "We thank everyone who donated, it is so generous. Amelia has certainly been through the mill the last nine months and it's just lovely to be back home."