Five-year-old British brain tumour patient Ashya King is back in Spain from Prague after undergoing proton therapy which is unavailable in Britain, the family’s lawyer said Monday.
The clinic is “possibly” located in the southern city of Malaga where King’s parents own an apartment, he added.
Ashya’s parents, Brett and Naghmeh King, snatched the boy from Southampton General Hospital in England in August, sparking an international uproar and a police manhunt.
The Kings feared that traditional radiotherapy would damage his brain and opted instead for proton therapy, touted as more precise as it targets only malignant cells.
They were taken into custody in Spain on an international warrant after British authorities suspected they were not acting in the best interests of the child.
But after the couple spent four days in a Spanish prison, a British court reunited them with their son in a Spanish hospital and allowed them to travel to the Czech capital for the treatment.
The boy spent almost 50 days in Prague where he underwent 30 sessions of proton therapy with a beam targeting his brain tumour and doctors say he now has about a 70 percent chance of recovery.
After being admitted to the proton centre in a frail state in early September, Ashya can now eat on his own, sit up, play and even walk a few steps.
The case received substantial coverage in the British media, with public opinion shifting from outrage to sympathy for the parents.
British prosecutors have dropped the case against them after acknowledging that Ashya had been properly cared for.
But Ashya’s father Brett King has said it would take the family some time to pluck up the courage to return to England.
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