THE family of a 12-year-old girl suffering from an incurable disease have thanked AFC Bournemouth charity bosses for the family holiday of a lifetime.

Ebony Robinson, her parents Lorna and Tyrone, and two brothers have just returned from an eight-day trip to South Africa, which they described as “out of this world – nothing will ever beat it.”

Ebony suffers from ataxia telangiectasia (AT), a debilitating condition described by her mum as “a ticking timebomb.”

She is the inspiration for a new charity, the Ebony Robinson Foundation, and was presented with the trip as a surprise by club charity co-ordinator and former director Adam Murry.

The family returned to their East Way home in Bournemouth and Lorna said they have yet to come back down to earth.

“The entire trip was totally beyond our expectations” she said.

“We were greeted by staff at the Palace Hotel in Sun City and our room was so amazing it even had a grand piano in it.

“We went on an elephant safari, a zip wire from a mountain and to a game reserve. Ebony had the time of her life and was brave enough to go on the zip wire, which made me really proud.

“How many children can say they’ve played with a baby cheetah and a baby lion?”

Lorna said the holiday was something they would never have been able to do without assistance and said: “I can’t thank AFC Bournemouth and Adam Murry enough – it is something we will never forget.”