CLYDEBANK triplets have started nursery this month as their brother continues to live with a rare cancer.

Caleb Stirrat, four, was given just weeks to live when doctors found the disease had returned earlier this year.

But a second brain operation and experimental new chemo drug has kept Caleb going along with sisters Poppy and Alyssia and the rest of his Parkhall family.

Doctors in June warned that Caleb wasn’t likely to make it to Christmas but, despite his exhaustion, the family are looking forward to spending Christmas together.

Mum Karen said Caleb has regular tests to monitor his progress but he is still classed as receiving palliative care.

There is no known effective drug to treat a relapse of Caleb’s condition, ATRT (atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumour).

She told the Post: “We live every day as if it’s our last as things can change so quickly.”

Caleb and his family travelled to Jacksonville, Florida, for proton therapy last year which had initially seemed successful.

But the tumour returned earlier this year.

Now Karen wants Caleb’s journey, which started almost two years ago, to help raise awareness of all childhood cancers.

When the family took the triplets to nursery this month for the first time, Karen admitted it was a day they thought wouldn’t happen just a few months earlier.

Caleb even managed to eat something on his visit, after a week of not managing food for days.

Karen said: “Yet again Caleb has surprised us all. We are so so happy. They went in for a hour and did really well.

“Caleb loved it and even managed to eat some scone and half a banana.

“He hadn’t eaten all week so we were ecstatic to hear he had managed this.

“The girls also had such a great time, and it was really good to hear them excited just for them to have that fulfilment of fun outwith the family home.

“That’s something the girls have sadly missed out on due to having to protect Caleb, therefore it was great to see the girls doing something for them for once.”

The triplets were all smiles again for the recent Children in Need appeal - something they have always supported, but even more so after Caleb’s cancer battles.

Karen said: “So many charities that we are supported by are helped by Children in Need and this year our much-loved [children’s cancer charity] Jak’s Den has also been provided with a grant.

“This helps us and so many families going through what we are in so many ways.”