THE FAMILY of a five-year-old boy who has captured the hearts of the nation in his fight against cancer has been told he has a new tumour.

Bradley Lowery, of Blackhall, east Durham, has been undergoing pioneering anti-body treatment at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary.

His mother Gemma tweeted on Wednesday evening: “Gutted that scans show that Bradley has a new tumour growing”.

On his Facebook page, Bradley Lowery’s Fight Against Neuroblastoma, she wrote: “Hi everyone I wasn't going to post till I had official results but I feel like I need to let Bradley's supporters know what's happening with the scans.

“Bradley has had scans the last couple of days to see if treatment is working.

“Bradley's consultant has had a look at the images and give us some information but we will have to wait for the official results.

“Unfortunately the results are not what we wanted to hear. Bradley scans show that there has been a small reduction in some parts however there is a new tumour on the bottom of his back.

“As you can imagine we are devastated and heart broken with this news as I really wanted the new treatment to work. We are not sure where we go from here as it will depend on his bone marrow biopsy results.

"He is getting this done on Thursday but results won't be back for another week.”

She added: “Why is life so cruel? Why do we have to get bad news time after time? Why does my baby not get a break?”