NHS North Staffordshire, which used to be North Staffordshire Primary Care Trust, says childhood cancer is rare in the West Midlands.

A spokesman said: "Less than 15 out of 100,000 children are diagnosed with cancer each year. Of those, approximately one quarter of cases are brain and central nervous system tumours."

According to the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust, the largest brain tumour charity in the UK, more children now die from a brain tumour than any other childhood cancer.

The charity says brain tumours are often difficult to diagnose because of their varied symptoms although in many cases people have headaches or nausea.

A charity spokesman said: "Forty per cent of all cancer deaths in children are from brain tumour."