EVEN a hurricane alert could not get in the way of a brave Trowbridge schoolgirl achieving her lifetime dream of swimming with dolphins.

Six-year-old Kelsey James and her family, of Azalea Drive, were sent on a dream holiday to Florida by the Make-A-Wish Foundation but found themselves caught up in Hurricane Jeanne.

Kelsey was given the chance-of-a-lifetime after undergoing a life-saving heart transplant operation.

Mum Joanne said her daughter was able to fulfil her wish despite the threat posed by the powerful hurricane.

"It was touch and go whether we were going or not," she said.

"We had a curfew to be in by 9pm on Friday and to stay in until Sunday morning, so we missed a day."

Despite the drama Kelsey was able to get in the water at Discovery Cove, Orlando and swim with a dolphin, with her brothers Kurt, 13, and 14-year-old sister Nikita joining in the fun.

Mrs James said: "At first she was a bit frightened but within five minutes she was touching the dolphin and then she went swimming with him. It was a very emotional moment.

"It was a really fabulous holiday, all the kids loved it. It was great."

Kelsey's family lived through the nightmare of discovering she was suffering from a life-threatening heart condition, which meant she desperately needed a transplant.

The little girl was just five months old when she was rushed to the Royal United Hospital in Bath suffering from pneumonia.

From Bath she was transferred to the Bristol Children's Hospital, where she was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy.

She was put on a transplant waiting list and the call came on Boxing Day 1998 to say a donor heart had been found.

The operation was carried out at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London on December 28.

Mrs James said: "It was a relief to get the call but it was also devastating. The whole time we were in the ambulance all I could think about was the other family involved.

"It was Christmas and the little girl who died was just a month older than Kelsey."

Kelsey, a pupil at Margaret Stancomb Infants School, was recommended to the Make-A-Wish Foundation by the Lifetime Nurses organisation at the RUH.

The foundation grants wishes to children living with life-threatening conditions and broke the news to Kelsey that she was going to Florida at a fundraising event held in London in May.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation, originally founded in the USA, has granted wishes to over 3,000 children, aged between three and 14, since it began in 1986.

For more information visit www.make-a-wish.co.uk