Brave Bacup girl's trip of a lifetime (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Brave Bacup girl's trip of a lifetime

2:00pm Saturday 19th January 2013 in News

A BRAVE Bacup girl went on the trip of a lifetime to meet a real-life version of her favourite toy.

Sophia Harding, eight, was given the chance to meet Sylvanian Families characters in London’s famous toy shop Hamleys, which opened specially for her, by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The St Saviour’s Community Primary School pupil suffers from cerebral palsy and potentially fatal hydrocephalus, also known as water on the brain.

The charity grants wishes to children fighting life-threatening conditions, and gave Sophia the star treatment by arranging her to be chauffeured to the flagship Regent Street megastore.

Accompanied by mum Jennifer and sisters Isabella and Alicia, Sophia was allowed into the shop one hour before any other customers, giving her the chance to meet star character Freya the Rabbit.

She was also given a huge pile of gifts, donated by toy company Flair, to take back to her home in Brambling Drive.

Mum Jennifer, a health care assistant at Royal Blackburn Hospital, said: “Sophia’s favourite part of the day was definitely meeting the Sylvanian Families character.

“The wish was more than what we could have hoped for. It was a break away where we had nothing to worry about and best of all, it was all for Sophia.”

Sophia baffled doctors who didn’t think she would live for more than a few days, and was diagnosed with hydrocephalus when she was just weeks old.

She requires physiotherapy every day and had brain surgery in America in 2011, one of almost 20 operations she has had so far to fight her conditions.

In July 2011 she defied the odds once again when she learned to swim, despite living with a shunt in her neck to control the pressure in her brain.

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