Isla Caton: Seven-year-old girl dies after five-year battle with cancer as West Ham United lead tributes

Seven-year-old Isla Caton has died after a five-year battle with neuroblastoma, a rare type of cancer.

West Ham United led tributes, saying they were "left heartbroken" by her passing.

Isla's fight against the illness inspired the club to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds to help fund treatment for her in the UK and Spain.

Her family said: "It is with the heaviest of broken hearts that we must announce Isla gained her angel wings early hours of this morning, it was very peaceful and surrounded by the continued love of Nicola, Michael & Millie.

"God bless our brave Isla."

After becoming ill at the age of two, Isla was initially treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, according to West Ham United.

Isla's mother Nicola Caton launched a fundraising campaign in May 2017 to help pay for her daughter's care, which received support from the likes of boxer Tyson Fury, rapper Guvna B and dozens of former players.

"We were told in 2018 that Isla had three months to live so we sold everything we had and raised a lot of money and took Isla to Barcelona for life-saving treatment," her mother Nicola Caton said on her fundraising page.

"We stayed in Spain for two years fighting but when COVID hit we had to return home."

In March 2019, it was announced that Isla was cancer-free, but the disease came back.