The parents of a ten-week-old baby fighting a rare form of cancer are raising money to send her to the United States for life-saving treatment.

Ruby Wright was three weeks old when she was diagnosed with the aggressive form of acute myeloid leukaemia, a cancer which affects the blood.

On average, just two babies a year in the UK contract this form of the disease.

Ruby is being treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where she is given chemotherapy drugs through a tube into her side as well as morphine for pain and antibiotics because her immune system is so weak.

Doctors have told her parents, Lisa and Peter Wright, that if the chemotherapy fails she will be sent home because they can do no more.

Mrs Wright, 25, said: "We are in limbo now, waiting to find out if the chemotherapy has worked.

"She is a strong little soul but if this second lot of chemo doesn't work they will send her home to die because those are the best drugs they have."

The couple, of Camden Road, Eastbourne, spend most of their time in London by their daughter's side, watching her contend with a cocktail of drugs.

They want to send her to the USA for treatment and are still researching the costs and options.

Mrs Wright said: "We have just been very unlucky because this is so rare.

"But I had a niggling feeling there was something not quite right from the start.

"I was looking forward to showing off my new-born baby but then one day I saw this blue bruise on her arm.

"More and more started appearing and I was really worried.

"We went to Eastbourne District General Hospital but they didn't know what it was and sent us to Great Ormond Street."

After examinations, doctors broke the news of Ruby's cancer to the couple.

Mrs Wright, who lost two grandparents to cancer last year, said: "It completely devastated us."

After one course of chemotherapy Ruby showed no signs of improvement so she was put on stronger treatment.

Her hair fell out and she stopped taking milk so a feeding tube was inserted through her nose.

She was given more drugs to calm stomach cramps.

Meanwhile, Mr Wright, 39, and his wife are either at the hospital or travelling between London and Eastbourne to see their son Andrew, five, who is being looked after by Mrs Wright's mother, Susan.

Mrs Wright said: "My whole world has been turned upside down.

"She is just a little baby calling out for life. I don't know if I can face life without her."

Anyone who would like to help or donate to the Ruby Recovery Fund to raise money for treatment should call 07714 653738.