MONTEREY— The experimental treatment meant to give a young Monterey girl a chance at beating a rare brain tumor appears to be having some success.

Aiden Taunton, 4, the daughter of Collin and Megan Taunton, has a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a rare form of cancer that grew an inoperable tumor in her brain.

Because of the cancer’s placement in the brain, traditional chemotherapy treatments would have to reach toxic levels before they were effective on the tumor.

Aiden, however, has been accepted into an experimental treatment program in Bristol, England, in which doctors have placed a port in her head and threaded micro catheters from the port directly into the tumor.

The doctors pump a medicine intended to kill the tumor through the port, delivering a directed treatment to the affected site through the infusions.

Aiden has been through three rounds of the treatment now. After the first round, MRI scans showed that the tumor appeared stable — or no longer growing — and after the second round the tumor had shrunk “a good amount,” Megan Taunton said.

“The doctors are really excited about it,” she said. “You are nervous any time you have an MRI, but we know (the treatment) is going to work, and it is working.

“It was just kind of a confirmation thing. We knew it was going to work, because — as we have said it before — we knew God had led us to Bristol to get this treatment. We have full faith that he is doing his job and it is shrinking. The doctors were even surprised at how well it was working. They couldn’t explain how well it had worked so far, they were a little shocked — that was all God.”

The Tauntons will return to Bristol in four weeks for another MRI and set of infusions, but for now it’s life as usual, Megan said.

“About the first week after the infusions she is weak and tired, and has some difficulty getting around, but we expect her to keep improving each week, and around that four-week mark, if we feel like her body is not ready to go back for that next round, we can push it back a week,” she said.

“Aiden is very determined, and she doesn’t let that (weakness) stop her from what she wants to do.”

After the next Bristol trip, the next milestone for Aiden won’t be treatment — it will be starting pre-K at Monterey High School.

“She is very excited about it,” Megan said. “Her best friend is going to be in the class with her, and she is looking forward to it.”

DIPG affects approximately 300 children in the U.S. a year, and almost exclusively targets children.

As the disease progresses, it can suppress nervous system function, leaving its victims unable to walk, close their eyelids or even chew.