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Daniel’s magical dream comes true
AN ARBROATH family has returned home after spending Christmas in the Magic Kingdom thanks to the generosity of local fund-raisers.
Daniel Mathieson and his family arrived home on January 9 after spending 28 days in Disneyworld Florida.
Daniel suffers from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy which has already claimed the lives of his brothers John and James.
His family set up the fund-raising group ‘Daniel’s Dream’ to provide Daniel with one last amazing family holiday to his dream destination of Disneyworld.
After a successful fund-raising campaign over several months, they managed to raise over £10,000 to pay for flights, accommodation and specialist medical insurance.
Daniel’s father Norman said: “It was really good, the accommodation was all very good and the parks were great.
“We went to all the parks, every single one and we spent Christmas Day in the Magic Kingdom with about a million people.
“It was absolutely stuffed, you couldn’t move but we enjoyed it and Disney put on a good show.”
However, as with all trips there were a few hiccups. Norman explained: “I suffered some nerve damage in my leg, Yvonne got a gum infection and Daniel got a chest infection but it was nothing serious.
“But we didn’t let it ruin our holiday. For the six days we were laid up the weather was quite bad with thunderstorms and rain.”
Norman is also considering writing to British Airways after staff failed to ensure Daniel’s wheelchair was taken off the plane first on the return journey, leaving him stranded aboard for over an hour.
After a brief rest the Mathieson’s will be swinging back into fund-raising action. Norman said: “We’ve got to pay for our son John’s funeral which is just over £1,000 plus the headstone which is another £600 so we will be raising money for that.
“And we’re meeting with an Action Duchenne advocate to talk about doing some fund-raising for them.”
More details will follow, but in the pipeline so far are a waxathon, swimathon and a Ben Nevis climb.
He added: “We just want to thank everybody for what they’ve done, the response has been amazing. Every pound has made a difference to Daniel’s Dream.”
For more information find Daniels Dream on Facebook.
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Weather for Arbroath
Sunday 26 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 8 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 8 C to 12 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: South
