The mother of little Ryan Wright, who is dying from a rare childhood cancer, says all she can do is pray for a miracle as she and her husband keep vigil at his bedside.

Hayley Wright, 32, said Ryan's will to live, and the support and love of family and friends, had given her the strength to keep going through the darkest days of her life.

The family are now at their home, in Fairview Road, North Walsham, where Ryan is on a morphine drip and is almost constantly asleep.

Doctors at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, discovered last month that, despite surgery and chemotherapy, his neuroblastoma had returned.

Hayley said a CT scan had revealed several brain tumours. 'We were told there is nothing anyone, in any country, can do for him and that there would be a 90pc chance of him dying on the operating table,' she added.

After the family had spent six days at the Quidenham East Anglian Children's Hospice, 22-month-old Ryan was brought home by ambulance last Thursday.

His parents were told that he had about a fortnight to live and were warned that he might not survive the journey.

But Hayley said she still kept trawling the internet looking for 'every possibility,' although she accepted that Ryan was too ill to be flown to the USA for specialist treatment.

'Part of me doesn't want to give up, ' she said. 'I just pray for a miracle.'

The family is now receiving daily visits from a Quidenham nurse who makes sure Ryan is as comfortable as possible.

'He knows who we are and gives a half smile when he's awake, and he responds to his name,' said Hayley.

Before his relapse Ryan had begun walking, supported by walls, and was saying his first words, including 'Mum' and 'Dad'. But the tumours had left him unable to co-ordinate his movements and he was now too ill to be moved out of the house.

Hayley and her husband Darren, 33, are spending as much time as they can cuddling Ryan. Darren stays beside him through the night until 2am or 3am and Hayley said she only left the house to take their oldest son, nine-year-old Keenan, to school at Tunstead.

Keenan had been more settled since returning from Quidenham where he had experienced nightmares, said Hayley. He had been screaming in his sleep, telling his younger brother Ethan, five, to come quickly because Ryan was dying.

'What's happening is the scariest thing any parent could go through,' said Hayley. 'Inside I feel so numb. I don't know how to feel - how to react. I am so scared I'm going to wake up one morning and Ryan's not going to be here.'

Two friends had been bringing the family meals so that they did not have to bother with cooking and Hayley said she thanked all the very many people who had given the family practical and emotional support which they truly appreciated. She added: 'I don't think anyone can do any more for us now - unless they've got a magic wand to make everything better.'