Rockhampton teen Marnee Millan has been diagnosed with cancer for a second time

Rockhampton’s Marnee Millan, 17, has been undergoing chemotherapy in Brisbane after being diagnosed with a cancer so rare there have only been 40 other cases in the world. Now, there’s fresh hope for her recovery.

Rockhampton teenager Marnee Millan has received some promising news in her fight against a rare form of brain cancer.

Mum Denise said a doctor told them on Thursday that an MRI had shown the chemotherapy was working and the inoperable tumour “has shrunk a bit”.

Marnee is being treated at Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane after being diagnosed with Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma, a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, on December 16 last year.

It is a condition so rare, doctors say there have been only 40 other cases in the world.

Marnee Millan has been given some promising news after her early rounds of chemotherapy.

It is the second time Marnee has battled cancer.

She beat Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma, a malignant soft tissue tumour, as a 10-year-old in 2015.

Denise said her heart sang on Thursday when the doctor delivered the news she’d been praying for.

“It was awesome, I could have cried,” she said.

“Marnee had been a little down lately and on Wednesday night she had a bit of a cry… but then when she talked to the doctor you could just see her face lighting up now that she knows it’s working.”

Denise said Marnee would likely have her third round of chemo next Tuesday.

“She’ll probably have chemo up until the end of May,” she said.

“They’ll do another MRI in a month’s time.

“They will do two rounds of chemo and then an MRI and then another two lots of chemo and another MRI and see how it’s going.”

Denise said the treatment was making Marnee sick but an anti-nausea drug she was given an hour before each cycle had lessened the effects.

Marnee’s harrowing journey started early in November when she started having headaches.

They got progressively worse to the point where, on December 10, she suffered a seizure.

She was taken to Rockhampton Hospital where a CT scan showed a mass, as well as swelling on her brain.

Marnee then suffered two more seizures, the last of which left her unresponsive.

She was intubated and flown to Brisbane.

Marnee was taken directly to theatre, where an external ventricular drain was inserted to drain fluid from her swelling brain.

A biopsy done the following day confirmed ALCL.

Denise said the diagnosis was devastating but said Marnee was a “trooper” who would fight all the way.

As she continues her brave fight, the Central Queensland community is rallying around the family with a gofundme page having already raised more than $17,000.

Denise said the support had been incredible, and that a recent visit from family members had been “a real pick-me-up” for Marnee and her.