Mackenzie Furniss, nine, is suffering from an advanced form of childhood cancer but has a last chance of life thanks to a 300,000 treatment devised by a German doctor.

Her father, Jason, 39, has given his stem cells to be used in a bid to eradicate the life-threatening cancer.

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Mr Furniss and his wife, Kimberley, 29, from Sauchie, Clackmannanshire, raised 178,000 towards the treatment before the Scottish Government stepped in with the rest.

The German professor who devised the treatment, Peter Lang, arranged for the treatment to be carried out at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill, Glasgow.

It is the first time the procedure - haploidentical stem cell transplantation - has been carried out north of the Border and only the second time in the UK.

Mackenzie's treatment started on Thursday and is expected to take six months, including six trips to Professor Lang's clinic near Stuttgart where she will have antibody treatment to reduce the risk of her father's stem cells being rejected.

Mrs Furniss said: "We are just looking forward to the treatment being finished. Mackenzie just wants it to be over now. It's not a simple procedure, and we know it will take a while.

"Mackenzie really just wants to get back to normal and see her friends and go and play."

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Father begins stem cell donation in life-saving cancer treatment for daughter