LARA Foster is a determined little seven-year-old.

Nine months ago her parents Charlie and Gill were devastated to discover she had leukaemia.

But now back at school Lara, from Headington, is raising as much money as she can for the people who are helping her back to health.

Her mum said: “It has been a hard few months, as the start of the treatment is the most intensive. But we’re through that now and she is back to being a normal seven-year-old.”

The family first noticed something was wrong when Lara failed to get over flu-like symptoms shortly after Christmas. And the blood cancer was diagnosed after tests.

Lara has responded well to her intensive treatment, which has lasted six months. She is now ‘low risk’ – meaning she is less likely to relapse.

Back at Headington School, Lara decided she wanted to do something to raise money for research into conditions like her own.

Together with her friends, she gave an assembly talking about cancer and pupils voted to make Cancer Research UK their charity of the year.

Lara, who is in year three, said: “When I first had it, I kept looking in the mirror and imagining what I would look like with no hair, but now I am used to it. It’s better than you think. You feel a bit sad at first and you feel a bit different but you just have to learn a bit earlier than everyone else that everyone’s different, but they just don’t know it.”