BATTLING with Leukaemia since she was just two, five-year-old Ellen McGrath has always lit up the hospital wards she has been in. She flew to Lapland with dozens of fellow children with life-threatening illnesses last December, where she fell in love with the baby huskies that towed her through Santa Claus' magical forest. Now her family are asking the Nottingham public to help make the dreams of other children with life-threatening illnesses come true, by donating towards this year's trip, organised by charity When You Wish upon a Star.
"Ellen takes everything in her stride," said mum Julie McGrath, of Mapperley. "The Lapland trip gave her something to look forward to that wasn't a hospital appointment.
"With endless appointments you sometimes feel like you can't do anything, but Lapland was our chance to be a family for the day. "She will never forget it. It is all about trying to build memories in a different situation than she's used to - and it works. Ellen always talks about the positives, despite everything that she's been through."
Ellen, who attends the Good Shepherd School, is still having regular appointments with her consultant but is in remission, fending off symptoms of biphenotypic leukaemia.
"Touch wood, she's doing really well," said Mrs McGrath. "Ellen's a really bright girl and is thriving at school."
When she met Father Christmas, selfless Ellen asked him to make sure he remembered her brother and her friends' presents before asking for a Barbie herself. Joseph, her older brother, would often stay the night in the E38 ward at the Queen's Medical Centre while Ellen was undergoing treatment. When You Wish Upon a Star arranged for him to join Ellen and Julie on the chartered plane to Santa's homeland. As well as the huskies, reindeer rides, snowmobiles, and sledges were available to the kids while a fireworks display lit up the dark skies. The Lapland trip has become a mainstay of the calendar at When You Wish Upon a Star, a children's charity founded in Nottinghamshire in 1990. It supports families through diagnoses of life-threatening illnesses and asks the children for one wish which it endeavours to grant - from swimming with dolphins to meeting their heroes. This year's trip, on December 3, will cost £90,000, or £900 for each child and a guardian to board the plane to Santa's magical forest in Rovaniemi, Finland.
East Midlands regional fundraiser Maggie Falconer said: "Lapland is the highlight of our year. It's just lovely to see all the children so happy and smiling."
For more information on how to donate, visit the charity's website.
