HER parents once feared desperately for her life.

Now Amanda Scott and James Crowther couldn’t keep Layla, five, away from school if they tried.

The couple were “devastated” when their little girl started having seizures when she was three years old.

Medics at the old Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow found a potentially fatal tumour the size of a golf ball on the left side of her brain that they believed had been there since birth.

Her parents feared the worst.

After a series of operations last autumn, Layla and her parents returned for another scan in August when they found only four or five per cent of the tumour remained and it was now benign.

A happy Layla started school at Aitkenbar Primary on the new Bellsmyre Campus last week and is loving every minute of it.

“She was a bit overwhelmed at first but she’s desperate to go back,” said Amanda, 23, from Bellsmyre.

“She’s always been very well behaved. She’s still kind of the same. She never shuts up.”

When her parents first raised her medical problems, Layla was referred to Vale of Leven Hospital for suspected absence seizures and her parents thought she may have epilepsy until she started falling over during fits.

Her mum took her straight to Yorkhill Hospital, where she was kept in for tests. Two days later, they diagnosed her with a brain tumour of a rare type for children, especially toddlers.

“It was devastating at the first stage,” said Amanda. “Any operation is daunting for a parent.

“But you just get used to it. There’s nothing you can do about it. The team at Yorkhill were great.

“We have a good family supporting us and Layla has been great throughout it all.

“She was only three for the first operation so she didn’t really understand it. It was horrible. The second time, she understood more.

“She’s had none of the possible side-effects. No language or sight problems. If anything, she’s got even more energy now.

“She’s never been sent to intensive care because she’s basically too noisy for the care unit!”