A four-year-old Tauranga tot is fighting for her life in Starship Hospital after being diagnosed with a rare form of Leukaemia.

Alicia Steenson's parents say she is being 'very brave” through chemotherapy and three lumbar punctures.

Alicia Steenson has stage 4 Burkitt Lymphoma and is currently undergoing chemotherapy after already enduring three lumbar punctures since her diagnosis last month.

Parents Trent and Vicky are staying in Auckland's Ronald McDonald House with Alicia as she undergoes treatment while their four other children, including a baby boy, stay with carers in Tauranga.

Added to Alicia's diagnosis is the recent realisation the family has been living in a house contaminated with methamphetamine.

Family friend and work colleague Nina Harland says the Steensons have been renting a home in Tauranga since last year and upon finding a large amount of chemicals under the house in recent weeks, became suspicious and contacted police.

'Alicia is a thumb-sucker, and coupled with her illness, Vicky became suspicious. They found out the house had been raided in 2011 for methamphetamine.”

Formal police testing revealed high levels of the Class-A drug, says Nina.

'They have pushed that aside because they're concentrating on Alicia, but they had to leave.

'So they just have to start from scratch when Alicia gets better. And she will get better, she can fight this.”

Alicia's sickness began with a sore jaw, which a doctor prescribed a course of antibiotics for.

'She didn't get better, she started getting worse. Her gums were like jelly, and you could just pull her teeth out.”

Testing in Auckland revealed the diagnosis. She was put on treatment immediately, and doctors are confident she can survive, says Nina.

colleague Nina Harland has launched a fundraising mission to help the Steensons and is calling for help.

'They are struggling, they have lost everything – and I just had to do something.”

An online fundraising page has been set up for the family and donations can be made at link www.givealittle.co.nz/cause/aliciakade