Disney dreams come true for sick Sutton girl (From Your Local Guardian)

Disney dreams come true for sick Sutton girl

8:50am Thursday 23rd April 2009

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A little girl with medical conditions which cause her heart and lungs to deteriorate was given the holiday of a lifetime by pub patrons.

Kaylee Mynot, 8, of Gander Green Lane, Sutton, suffers from atrioventricular septal defect and pulmonary hypertension, and has to live on medication to slow down deterioration of her organs and keep her alive for longer, so she will have better chances of surviving a transplant.

Her parents, Kaye Russell and Scott Mynot, both 38, decided to surprise her with a special holiday, and patrons from their local pub, the Gander, raised £1,100 so the whole family could go to Disneyland in Paris.

Miss Russell said: “She knew nothing about it until we knew how much they had raised.

"We presented her with a cheque and she didn’t quite understand what was going on until we told her the holiday was booked and we were actually going.

“We stayed in the top Disney hotel and it was amazing.

"Kaylee was very tired and took one of the days to rest, but she loved every minute of it.”

Miss Russell and Mr Mynot had contacted a charity which grants wishes to children with serious illnesses, but they would not do the kind of holiday Kaylee wanted.

“So the patrons from our pub said ‘we will do it for you’,” Miss Russell said.

The couple were told during Kaylee’s first year of life she would probably not survive past the age of five, but she has defied the odds, thanks to the medication she takes and the good quality of life she enjoys.

Kaylee goes to Westbourne Primary School, where she has a carer in charge of her medication and leads a close to normal life.

“She has to take oxygen because of her conditions and she gets very tired, especially on hot days,” said Miss Russell.

“During the summer term she does half days, and sometimes she takes a day to sleep, but she just copes.

"She amazes us every day.”

Because of the pulmonary hypertension she suffers, Kaylee’s heart cannot be fixed with an operation and the only way she could be completely cured would be by receiving heart and lungs transplants.

Miss Russell said: “The older she gets, the better chance she has of surviving heart and lung transplants.

“So for now, we’ll just make sure she keeps having a great quality of life.”

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