Cancer Research UK's Little Stars Awards 'provide vital recognition' The family of a four-year-old girl fighting leukaemia is backing this year's Little Star Awards for children undergoing cancer treatment. Millie Scally, from Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a cancer of the white blood cells, in October last year and is not due to finish her treatment until April 2015. Millie and her mother Charlotte, 30, are urging people to nominate children for Cancer Research UK's Little Stars Awards or donate to the cause. Last year 68 children in Scotland had their bravery recognised with a trophy, certificate and £50 TK Maxx gift card. Charlotte, a child development officer, said: "Millie has been so brave. She has a great character and loves pretending she's Minnie Mouse. She feels that Millie is the girl who's not well and so it's better to be Minnie Mouse, who is the one who has fun. No child should ever have to go through the experience of having cancer and they are all little stars for getting through it as well as they do. More than eight in 10 children with cancer in the UK now survive for more than five years, compared to just three in 10 in the late 1960s, according to new figures from Cancer Research UK. The charity says the five-year survival rate for all children's cancers has risen from 79% to 82% in the past decade. About 120 children are diagnosed with cancer every year in the Scotland. Singer Emeli Sande, from Alford, Aberdeenshire, is supporting the awards. "Each child who confronts cancer is a star in their own way and I salute their courage and bravery," she said. The Little Star Awards provide vital recognition for these kids and their families and, in doing so, help raise vital awareness of children's cancers and the need to continually invest in cutting-edge research. The awards are open to anyone under 18 who has cancer or who has been treated for the disease in the past five years. Relatives and friends of young cancer patients or survivors can nominate them by visiting this website.