Brave little Milli gets a ride in Chitty

Mum Kelly Denley, from Bransgore, was not sure two-year-old Milli was going to survive when she sang Truly Scrumptious, which roused her daughter and brought a smile back to the tiny tot's face.

Milli, who lives with mum Kelly, dad Chris and three brothers, 13-year-old twins Harry and Tom and 11-year-old Jake in Burley Road, was born with serious heart defects and a cleft palate.

A month ago she was undergoing surgery at Southampton General Hospital to repair a damaged artery, which had stopped one of her legs growing, when her pulse dropped dangerously low.

It was 15 hours into the operation, which had to be abandoned because of the risk to her life.

Despite the setback, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang fan Milli returned home after a few days.

"Considering she's had six operations in two years, she's surprisingly resilient.

"She's done really well.

"We're really proud of her," said Mrs Denley.

As a welcome home present, Milli's grandmother Carol Phillips bought her a model of Chitty from the National Motor Museum shop at Beaulieu.

When staff there heard about Milli's story, they invited her and her brothers to have their photographs taken sitting in the world's most famous flying car, designed by Caractacus Potts and kidnapped by the evil Baron Bomburst in Vulgaria.

And, of course, Milli absolutely loved the experience.

Mrs Kelly said: "Milli's future is uncertain but we don't want her to have any operations at the moment.

"We just want her to be as well as she can and enjoy being a little girl.

"We are so grateful to the fantastic staff at Beaulieu for giving her such a wonderful treat.

"We have taken her to see the car several times but never thought she would have an opportunity to sit in it."

And to add to Milli's joy, she was taken along to the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton last week to see the stage version of Chitty's story.

She's hardly stopped singing songs from the show since.