Teen cancer victim Kelly Turner has been bought more time.

Her latest chemotherapy has shrunk and stabilised her tumours, reducing the immediate urgency for life-saving specialist surgery in America.

The surgery for her rare cancer is still needed, however.

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But while she is better she and her family plan to put off travelling to New York until June and she has finished her exams.

If her condition worsens again she will abandon her studies and go straight to the States.

She explained on the Facebook Kelly Turner Fundraising page: “I’m hoping to do my GCSEs before we go. I’ve been waiting two years and there’s a little more time.

Video: A Night at the Oscars at the Bluebirds Function Rooms

“Luckily, at the moment my tumours are stable and the new chemotherapy has shrunk them a bit and they’re showing less activity, so as long as they are stable we won’t be going until June.

“However, if there is a significant increase of activity or size in the tumours then we will immediately be going.”

Kelly’s father, Martin, told Kent Online: “Her chemotherapy is working particularly well at the moment so we’re going to take advantage.

“It’s reduced the tumours dramatically and also their effect. Kelly wants to carry on with the chemotherapy so we will be going off soon after her exams.”

Kelly, 16, of Dover, was given two years to live in October 2015 when she was struck with the desmoplastic round cell tumours, a type of sarcoma suffered by only 30 teenagers a year worldwide.

She needs to raise £1 million ($1.2 million) for the full treatment but an initial £400,000-plus for the surgery. It is not available to her on the NHS.

Her studies in St Edmund’s RC School had last year been thrown in the air by her illness with the constant chemotherapy trips to the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton, London.

She had undergone an exhausting nine rounds by last June. During that time she was only well enough to study her English language and literature at home with a private tutor, and was unable to finish all her GCSEs by last summer.

The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York wants an estimated $500,000 dollars upfront for the surgery, the amount in sterling depending on exchange rates.

Another $700,000 is needed for follow-up immunotherapy.

The sum raised by today after months of public events and donations stood at £407, 531.

The family also have to allow for any extra fees, so they plan to keep pushing on towards reaching the full £1 million.

Kelly Turner was given an award for her courage at a glittering function held for her on Saturday Jan 28.

The teenager was presented with a Most Inspirational prize during A Night at the Oscars with Kelly Turner at the Bluebirds Function Rooms in Snargate Street, Dover.

By Monday night Jan 30the amount raised from the event added up to £1,308.79.

Kelly attended with her parents, Linda and Martin, and appeared to be a healthier weight – looking better and physically stronger in spite of having gone through 15 months of cancer hell.

Function Rooms owner Kayleigh Aldred told KentOnline that she was not surprised at the consistent efforts in Dover in fundraising for Kelly.

She said: “I’m not surprised at all. We are a small community, and when it really matters we do all pull together. She’s a beautiful young girl who has her whole life ahead of her and she deserves this.

“It just proves what a community we’ve got because everybody has really pulled together.”

Linda Turner told KOL: “I can’t believe how Dover people and in other towns have got behind us. We’re so grateful. We want Kelly to live a good and long life.”

You can give to the Kelly Turner Fundraising account at the NatWest bank in Dover. The sort code is 60-07-04 and the account number is 39767000.

You can also donate online at justgiving.com/fundraising/kelly-turner2000