Britain’s High Court has ruled that the parents of Ashya King, the five-year-old boy with a brain tumour, may take him to the Czech Republic for cancer treatment.<br /><br />They want him to receive proton beam therapy there because it’s not available from Britain’s health service.<br /><br />The couple were arrested in Spain after removing him from a British hospital against medical advice following a disagreement with doctors about his treatment.<br /><br />Brett and Naghemeh King had travelled to Spain where they planned to sell a property to pay for their son’s treatment. <br /><br />Proton beam therapy promises the benefits of radiation therapy. Experts say it is less damaging to the patient.<br /><br />“With the proton therapy you reduce the risk of irradiating something which doesn’t need to be irradiated because you target exactly the tumour,” explained Iva Tatounova, <br />Director of Strategy at Prague’s Proton Therapy Centre.<br /><br />Ashya’s treatment would last four to five weeks, according to Tatounova. When it is finished she says his tumour will be gone. <br /><br />Ashya would still have to have regular screening for to see if he has gone into remission or not. <br /><br />Proton therapy at the centre in Prague costs around 48,000 euros for the type of treatment Ashya needs.
