A YOUNG cancer patient was left tongue-tied after receiving high praise for her 'fantastic' drawings - by the Prince of Wales.

Charles met with Louise Dawson and her mum, Karen, both from Wickford, when he was given a tour of The University College Hospital Grafton Way Building in London.

The site is home to cutting-edge Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) and is one of the largest treatment centres for blood disorders.

Louise, who is 12 and into day nine of a 30-day PBT course for a spinal tumour, was drawing pictures of rabbits ahead of her next session when she caught the attention of the Prince of Wales.

Echo:

Charles was impressed by her efforts, asking: “You’re doing this just freehand? It’s very good – fantastic. Do you do a lot of drawing?”

Louise was a little tongue-tied and, when the prince asked about teaching, her mother said a tutor provides the core subjects of maths, English and science, whereupon Charles quipped to the young patient: “You will be an expert in proton beam.”

The prince officially launched the new £380m facility during his visit yesterday (Mar 2) and gave an impromptu speech praising the NHS before unveiling a plaque to mark the occasion.

He told staff, senior figures and private supporters: “It is a remarkable achievement, and, for what it’s worth, I can only offer my congratulations to all those who played such an important part, let alone all those genius physicists who actually understand how the Proton Beam Therapy works, which is truly remarkable.”

He added: “I so well understand how much… pressure you’ve been under for the last two years or more, and quite how you’ve withstood it, I don’t know.

Echo:

“It is a great tribute to your professionalism and your resilience that this has been possible, and for all of us who rely and depend on you and your skills we cannot thank you enough.

“And now you have to catch up with the backlog, which is the other great worry, but I’m sure you will do it.”

The PBT machine in the Grafton Way Building is housed in a huge basement which could accommodate the Royal Albert Hall and is one of only two sites in the country providing the treatment.

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It also has eight operating theatres, with an accompanying 32-bed surgical ward and 36-bed recovery area.

PBT is a type of radiotherapy that targets cancer tumours with proton beams, and the consultant oncologist told the prince “essentially it damages the DNA so that the (cancer) cell can’t divide in the future”.

Before leaving, Charles met staff who had lined the path to his car, and was presented with a multi-coloured face mask.