Little girl’s dream trip to Florida back on (From Bournemouth Echo)

Little girl’s dream trip to Florida back on

12:00am Tuesday 18th November 2008

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A LITTLE girl is excitedly waiting to board a plane bound for Florida today, to go on her dream holiday.

Ebony Robinson of Bournemouth and her family had originally planned to travel at the start of November, but their holiday was cancelled when the airline XL Leisure collapsed.

Ebony, 10, has a life-limiting rare illness called ataxia telangiectasia. Sufferers generally do not survive beyond their late teens.

Ebony and her brothers Owen, 12, and Cerwyn, 13, and parents Tyrone and Lorna are now looking forward to boarding the Virgin Atlantic plane and going to Disney World, where Ebony will get the chance to see her favourite animals – dolphins.

Their holiday was paid for through fundraising by friends and family, including a marathon run by Mark Archer.

Dad Tyrone Robinson said he had gone through a very stressful 24 hours as the details were finally sorted out, after the credit card refund came through.

“We’re looking forward to it,” he said.

“It’s that time of year when the costs are going up because of Christmas. We had to go really quickly.”

Mr Robinson said he wanted to thank all the Daily Echo readers who had offered help to lend him the money.

“The support we have had from members of the public has been really uplifting,” he said.

“We have had about four or five different people who have phoned and said: ‘The cash is here, just let us know’.

“They are just regular Echo readers.”

Bush Entertainment, which looks after Discovery Cove, read our original story about the collapse of the airline and the impact on the Robinsons and offered them free entry to the dolphins.

Mr Robinson said any surplus money would either make the holiday go better or would be donated to the fund which supports ataxia telangiectasia sufferers.

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