THE FATHER of a 10-year-old girl from Anglesey who is battling germ cell cancer says she has "smashed the first hurdle" in her road to recovery.

Tony Fitzmaurice made the devastating announcement about daughter Maisy’s condition on April 5.

This week, she has undergone an operation at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool and is awaiting more tests to determine a course of chemotherapy.

Tony says he's "very proud" of the way she has dealt with the situation.

"I’m over the moon to say the very long operation has gone well," he added.

"They’ve achieved what they hoped to achieve. We wait now to see how she recovers from the operation to see what and when the Chemo plan is.

"There's a long way to go but she's smashed the first hurdle."

A GoFundMe page set up to help the Fitzmaurice family with unexpected costs such as travelling has raised £4,250 of its £5,000 target to date.

Last week, Maisy had the opportunity of leading her "favourite team in the world" - Amlwch Town Ladies Football Club - out onto the field as their mascot in a 4-2 win over Mountain Rangers.

Tony says he's been "touched" by the generosity of the Amlwch community as a whole, who have pulled together to show their support in various ways.

Local football enthusiast Alan Gray, known for his charity work in the area, donated a signed Liverpool shirt to Maisy’s brother Mylo, 11.

Her uncle Paul is also stepping in to help raise funds by climbing Snowdon on April 27 and youngsters and teachers at Ysgol Gynradd Amlwch, which Maisy attends, have raised £600 for her since her diagnosis and created a special video to show their support and wish her well.

Even the Liverpool ladies football team got involved, sending Maisy a personal video ahead of her first operation this week. Welsh goalkeeper Owain Fon Williams has also stepped in - sending Maisy one of his paintings and organising a raffle to help raise money.

Tony said: “The people and the community in Amlwch is second to none and I'm proud to be an Amlwch lad.

"We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone for absolutely everything. We are overwhelmed by the support, generosity and love we have received over the past two weeks or so.

“Maisy has personally said thank you and that everyone being nice makes her happy and feel better. She’s the strongest, bravest and most amazing little girl I know."

To donate to Maisy's cause, visit: https://www.gofundme.com/marchformaisy?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fb_co_shareflow_m