The usually zesty five-year-old is fighting a bone cancer so rare, it has only been documented in English literature four times.

Melinda and Lydia have been at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne since December 5. They had to pack up and leave the rest of their family in Tasmania, along with their 30 animals, which are now spread right across the state, from Yolla to the Huon Valley, being cared for by friends.

“We’re planning to fly home this Saturday for a week and it will be the first time we’ve been home since coming here in December,” Ms Ebdon said.

“We desperately need it because we’ve lost our fight. It’s just exhausting. Lydia especially - she’s given up. It’s horrible - she’s normally got so much spunk but lately she’s had so much thrown at her, she’s not getting a chance to get back up.”

Lydia is the second child ever to present to the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne with the rare cancer.

She was diagnosed at the Royal Hobart Hospital with a Ewing sarcoma in her forehead, and operated on immediately.

“We went to the hospital on November 18 after she had been vomiting on-and-off for 10 days.

“She went for a CT scan and there were about 12 doctors that were outside the room and I didn’t really take any notice and thought maybe it was overkill.

“But then I was told it’s a brain tumour - we’ve got to operate straight away.

“I just picked her up off the bed and I just held her and I just cried and cried and cried - it didn’t even cross my mind that it could be anything like that.”

Since being flown to Melbourne, Lydia has had radical reconstructive surgery, as well as being aggressively treated with a particularly harsh form of chemotherapy on a 21-day cycle.

She is up to round six of her current treatment, which finishes this week.

After a much-needed visit back to Tasmania, she will begin her next stage of chemotherapy, which Ms Ebdon said was not supposed to be as harsh. That will involve eight rounds on a 21-day cycle.

Ms Ebdon said a visit to Tasmania would be medicine for Lydia.

“She needs to see her daddy, she needs to see her brothers and sister. She really misses them all.

“Lydia loves animals and she’s got her very own pony, Lucy. She’s in Yolla at the moment being babysat.

“We’ve got animals everywhere - from Yolla to the Huon Valley. We’re going to try to get around and see as many of our animals as we can.

“I think it’s really important for her healing. Animals are such good therapy.”