Dying girl denied dream trip

Schoolgirl Hannah Jones will be denied her dying wish if she cannot get insurance to go to Disney World in America.

The 13-year-old was over the moon when she was offered the chance to travel to America with her family on a trip for children with life-threatening conditions.

But three weeks before her family were due to fly out, a charity had to break the news that she was the only one of 40 children on the trip turned down for insurance.

Yesterday Hannah and her family made an emotional appeal in an attempt to make her wish come true.

"It's been my dream to go for so long but never thought it would happen," said Hannah who lives in the village of Marden, Herefordshire.

"I'm angry that they are stopping me going and it's upsetting because I am the only one."

Hannah developed a failing heart after being treated for leukaemia in 2000 and doctors told her family she would be lucky to live to see last Christmas without a transplant.

But Hannah decided she did not want the risky and difficult operation and decided to be cared for at home by her mother, an intensive care nurse.

Earlier this year one GP tried to take the family to the High Court to overrule Hannah's decision but the teenager spoke to the judge over the phone from her sickbed and convinced him she was mature enough to make up her own mind.

She convinced him that quality of life was more important than quantity and the case was dropped after surgeons at Great Ormond Street Hospital told the court they would not perform the operation against her will.

Now she wants to enjoy the rest of her life with her parents Kirsty and Andrew and brother Oliver, 11, and sister Lucy, 10, and four year-old Phoebe. Most of the time she is confined to the house and she spends long periods in hospital or the Acorns children's hospice.

For months she has been looking forward to the chance to visit Orlando with the Caudwell Children charity.

Its Destination Dreams is designed so children like Hannah who cannot get out and about because they have complex medical needs can go on a dream holiday with their families.

But the charity said dozens of insurers had refused to cover Hannah even though she would be staying in resort for sick children and would be supported by a team of volunteers, paramedics and doctors.

Hannah is the only one the charity cannot get cover for and it appealing for an insurance company to come forward and look at her case again so she is not left behind.

Mrs Jones, 43, said: "We were told she would not get past last Christmas but she is still here so who knows what the future holds. All we know is that it would mean the world for Hannah to go on this trip with her brothers and sisters and she's not going to get another chance.

"We could never afford to go away as a family and we desperately want to enjoy some time together, build up all those happy memories and take photographs of us all together to look back on. I cannot understand why they cannot insure her.

"One insurance company phoned me last week to ask if her illness meant she would still be here within six months of coming back from the holiday. I told them 'I don't know. I don't have a hotline to God'. The hospital said she would not reach Christmas and she's still here so you never know."

Trudi Beswick, chief executive of Caudwell Children, said: "It is now a race against time to find a company that is willing to insure Hannah to travel. From the 40 children we are taking on this special trip we had five who were originally refused but we have been able to gain insurance for all of them, except Hannah.

"We are not asking for money or for free insurance, we just want to speak to businesses that can look at this case individually and take into consideration the precautions and medical assistance we have in place.

"Hannah dreams of visiting Disney World and it would be a magical distraction for the whole family to spend a week in the company of other families."