TWO brave children who have battled through serious health problems have enjoyed an once-in-a-lifetime trip to Disneyland thanks to charity Dreamflight.

Owen Tomsett, 12, of Ludlow Close, Pewsham, and Beth Picter, 13, of Sherington Mead, Pewsham, spent seven days exploring the thrilling parks and rides in Orlando with 194 other children and a team of over 100 doctors and nurses.

The trip was organised by charity Dreamflight, a UK charity that changes young lives through taking children with a serious illness or disability on the holiday of a lifetime to Orlando, Florida.

Abbeyfield School student Owen had a kidney transplant from his mum at the age of nine, before which he spent four hours, three times a week, having dialysis at Bristol Children’s Hospital.

Despite developing chicken pox following the operation, two years later, Owen was competing and winning gold at the World Transplant Games in Bolton in the 50m sprint.

Beth, who attends Rowdeford School near Devizes, had major heart surgery three times before her second birthday after being diagnosed with a life-threatening heart condition at just six days old.

Her mum, Julie Picter said: “She had an absolutely amazing trip, they were treated like royalty.

“It was huge watching her go off, it was a massive thing, flying, which she has never done before.

“To see her come back so full of it and hear everything she has done, a lot of it she cannot do over here, it’s incredible. It’s definitely done her confidence a lot of good.

“It’s not just about taking them on holiday it’s for the children to become independent and to be with other people. She’s definitely more confident and the way she talks about it all it obviously has done a lot for her.”

The experience began for the duo with a party at the Hilton Hotel at Heathrow Airport with Nadine Coyle from Girls Aloud, CBBC presenters Dick and Dom and other Disney characters.

After flying on a chartered Boeing 747 plane to Orlando, the group were given a water salute by fire engines in the US before being escorted by local police to their hotel.

The children then took in experiences at Disneyland, Harry Potter World and other theme parks.

Owen’s mum, Alison Tomsett said: “He had never really flown before but they really were treated amazingly.

“He met Micky Mouse and he got to swim with dolphins on the last day.

“We missed him but every day we saw something on Facebook and it was lovely when he came home. We knew it was the chance of a lifetime really.”