FREDDIE Rowe-Crowder has flown back to Germany for the third phase of the cancer treatment which will hopefully save his life.

The eight-year-old from Wheathampstead started the pioneering antibody treatment again on Monday and, while it made him feel extremely ill initially, he has been getting stronger as the days go on.

He has even been called upon to give his opinion on a new type of IV pump being manufactured. This week his professor took him along to a presentation by the company making the device which was translated for Freddie’s benefit so that he could put his thoughts across from a patient’s viewpoint. Hid dad Tep Crowder said: “It’s pretty awesome from someone who has just turned eight!”

Freddie, a pupil at St Helen’s School, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma back in February last year and his parents Tep and Tania Rowe were told in September that his condition was terminal. But the brave boy fought back against all the odds and it’s hoped that the treatment in Germany will give him a final shot at survival.

The treatment costs �60,000 and his parents had faced an uphill struggle to find the funds.

But the full amount was raised within a matter of weeks when the Herts Advertiser launched a campaign to support the efforts of Freddie’s friends, family and school – and his plight has now started to blaze a trail, being followed by children in the UK who are taking up the treatment.

Freddie’s third cycle of treatment is expected to last for 16 days after which he will undergo a series of scans and tests to confirm how successful it has been before he goes on to complete the fourth and hopefully final cycle. Doctors decided last month to also give him immunotherapy treatment between cycles, meaning he has no respite.

Speaking of Freddie’s progress on Tuesday, Tep said: “It knocked him for six a bit, he was being sick and had a temperature, but I got a note at 2am this morning from Tania to say his temperature had gone down. He’s got his energy back and is going great guns.”

And Freddie is busy catching up on school work from his hospital bed now that children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent have provided him with an Apple MacBook Pro computer for him to use while he’s away from home.

Before jetting off to Germany at the weekend, Freddie attended Luton Hoo’s Classics in the Walled Garden evening to see his godfather Dave Rowell, who took his fire engine to the event, and family friend Feroz Khan who travelled up from London.