Sadly we can’t offer every deserving child in the country the chance of a holiday to Florida, so we look for children whose problems have made their lives so difficult, so unpleasant, that they simply deserve a special treat like this. Our basic criteria are that they are between the ages of 8 and 14 and are currently, or have been, seriously ill.We take our advice from the medical profession and invite carers throughout the UK to nominate children who they feel will benefit from Dreamflight. Naturally, we get many more nominations than we can accept, so our Medical Director – a paediatric consultant – ultimately decides who will be offered a place on the trip.

A number of factors are considered when making the selection, especially the ability to cope with the long flight and busy holiday. The level of medical attention required is also important. Naturally, most of the children will need supervised medication or some form of treatment during the trip, but we always remember that this is a holiday, so the attention they require must not be so intrusive as to risk spoiling the fun. Similarly there is a maximum number of wheelchair-users that we can accommodate on each trip but, if at all possible, we don’t let medical problems get in the way of having fun. Our aim then, is to select deserving children who will benefit, but inevitably we are faced with the heart-rending situation of turning down many deserving children for no other reason than sheer weight of numbers.