Sick Chloe in holiday heartache

A terminally ill girl has missed out on her dream trip to Disneyland Paris - for the third time running - after doctors decided she was too poorly to travel.

Chloe Stone, aged 10, of Walsall, who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, should have flown out to Paris on Wednesday, but at the last minute doctors said she was too ill to fly and the trip was cancelled.

There is some good news for Chloe, however, as she is spending the weekend at Alton Towers and will receive VIP treatment at the Alton Towers Hotel.

Her mother Donna Jones, of Rushall, said: "It was devastating to be told again that she couldn't travel to Paris. She has been really well recently and we thought she would be OK to travel. But the doctors said her lungs weren't well enough at the moment and felt she wasn't able to fly.

"But I have booked two nights at the Alton Towers Hotel where Chloe will have full access to the facilities.

"She is really looking forward to it and makes up a little for the Disneyland Paris cancellation. It sounds like it is going to be lots of fun." Miss Jones is still hoping to take Chloe to Disneyland Paris in a month's time and this time a doctor is set to join the trip.

Chloe, who has walking and breathing difficulties, is in a wheelchair and uses a ventilator at night.

It is the third time Chloe has missed out on the trip.

By Andy Richardson