£18,000 donated to disabled girl

4.53.29pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 21st May 2007

The parents of an eight-year-old girl with cerebral palsy have raised the money needed to send her to China for a revolutionary new treatment. Kishor and Priti Tahiliani, from Bournemouth in Dorset, want to take Vaishnavi to Beijing to have stem cells injected into her spinal cord. They needed to raise £18,000 for two months of the treatment, which is not available in the UK.

Now the owners of the town's Hermitage Hotel have donated the whole amount. Hotel owners, the Oram family, made the donation after seeing the Tahilianis' story covered in the local media.

Mrs Tahiliani, 34, said: "I couldn't believe it. When it happened it was like a dream. It was a very touching moment for me. Just a week ago I was thinking 'how am I going to raise so much money?'"

The couple now hope to take Vaishnavi - who is known as Shonia - to Beijing for the treatment, which has been credited with helping other cerebral palsy sufferers, by the end of June. The treatment at Tiantan Puhua Neurosurgical Hospital involves injecting stem cells from the umbilical cords of healthy babies into the spinal cord fluid of the cerebral palsy sufferer.

The cells then flow directly into the brain where they develop into new cells and repair some of the damage. Vaishnavi cannot speak, sit or walk. Her parents hope the treatment will help her to live a fuller life.