Ellen made a wish come true for 11 year old Lauren Bernardo, from Northwich in Cheshire when she met her  at the Horse of the Year Show at Birmingham's NEC last month. Lauren's wish was granted by Make-A-Wish Foundation^® UK, the charity that grants magical wishes to children and young people fighting life-threatening illnesses.

Lauren is a keen horse rider and chose to meet Ellen because she regularly appears in Lauren’s favourite horse riding magazines. Before meeting Ellen, Lauren was able to enjoy some of the displays at the Horse of the Year Show, including the Pony Club Mounted Games and the Musical Ride of the Household Cavalry. She was then taken to the area where the riders were practising, to meet Ellen! Lauren spent some time with Ellen and asked her questions about her show jumping career, one of which was how old Ellen was when she did her first show? Ellen replied “aged five”, which is also when Lauren first started horse riding.

Ellen said: “I was really pleased to meet Lauren and make her wish come true. She seemed like a very special little girl and she is certainly horse-mad, which is good! I’m glad she had a fun day at the Horse of the Year Show and enjoyed the whole experience.“

Lauren was diagnosed in January 2010 with Rhabdomyosarcoma (a cancerous tumour of the muscles) just days before the family were due to go on holiday to Fuerteventura. Lauren's mum Cara initially noticed that something wasn’t quite right when Lauren woke up one morning with a puffy eye. Lauren was initially told by her doctor that it was an infection, then a burst blood vessel, before finally being sent to hospital; she was diagnosed within five days. Just a week later she had a Hickman Line inserted and had to endure three days of chemotherapy every three weeks for six months.

Cara said: “Lauren’s wish is something that we could never have arranged for her. The way her eyes lit up when she met Ellen was just lovely.”

There are currently 20,000 children and young people in the UK fighting a life-threatening illness and this year alone 1,200 children will turn to Make-A-Wish to have their wish granted. The charity needs to raise £5.5 million in 2011 to achieve this.

To refer a child for a wish or to make a donation, please visit:

www.make-a-wish.org.uk or telephone 01276 40 50 60.