A mum has told how she proved doubting doctors wrong and saved her daughter's life – thanks to the internet.

Carly Hornbuckle was convinced her daughter Bella Flint was seriously ill – but doctors told her it was simply attention-seeking.

She began searching the internet for the answers and after typing in her four-year-old's symptoms, discovered they pointed to a brain tumour.

After convincing doctors, Bella had a scan – which revealed a tumour the size of a golf ball on her brain.

The cancer, medulloblastoma, affects just 80 children nationwide each year.

Carly, 25, of Markfield, said: "I knew there was something seriously wrong – you know your own children.

"I knew it was something more and began searching the internet for answers.

"Bella's symptoms just seemed to fit."

After an eight-hour operation, surgeons at the Queen's Medical Centre, in Nottingham, managed to remove the tumour.

She will spend this year having chemotherapy to ensure the cancer is completely gone.

Now Carly and partner Jordan Flint, 28, have set up a charity, Tinkerbella's Wishes, to mark their daughter's bravery and to help others.

Any cash raised will be split between providing for Bella's future needs and to funding medical research into children's brain tumours.

Jordan said: "We are very proud of Bella. She is so brave."

Bella became ill early last year when she started being sick every morning when she woke.

A GP suggested it might be because she was unsettled at the arrival of baby sister Imogen.

Carly said: "I wasn't convinced but I thought it might be possible."

By August, Bella was being sick from the moment she woke each day, prompting Carly to start searching on the internet.

In October, Carly used the internet evidence to convince doctors to refer Bella to experts at Leicester Royal Infirmary, where the tumour was found.

She had the operation in Nottingham, followed by six weeks radiotherapy treatment to make sure the cancer had not spread. She will spend this year having chemotherapy.

Carly said: "The surgery was a success and surgeons said the cancer hadn't spread.

"But the radiotherapy has affected Bella's spine and means she will never grow to more than 4ft.

"The chemotherapy could also lead to some degree of learning difficulty, hearing loss and kidney damage."

Tinkerbella's Wishes has so far raised about £4,000.

The family are now planning a series of fund-raising activities, including a ball, charity football matches and golf day.

Professor Richard Grundy, the country's only professor of paediatric neurological oncology, at Queen's Medical Centre, said: "Bella has been very fortunate.

"She came to us relatively early, the surgery went extremely well and we were able to get on with her treatment. The earlier it begins, the better."

He welcomed fund-raising for research into brain tumours.

Prof Grundy said: "We need to understand more about why tumours occur."