A LITTLE girl suffering with arthritis had a day fit for a princess when she made a special wish.

Eight-year-old Chantelle Barlow from Abbotsbury spent a day with her friends and family living the life of a fairytale princess thanks to the Starlight Children’s Foundation Starlight Wishes project.

The organisation grants special wishes to children who are seriously and terminally ill.

Chantelle was diagnosed with arthritis when she was 11 months old and ever since then the condition has worsened.

Mum Tracee said: “I never knew a child could get it. I was shocked. It’s pretty much everywhere.”

Since March, Chantelle has been in Bristol Children’s Hospital but was allowed home especially so she could have her special wish.

Tracee and Chantelle’s siblings Charlotte, 19, Tamara, 15, Jack 13, and Mackenzie, three, joined Chantelle for an exclusive breakfast at Summer Lodge Hotel in Evershot.

Travelling in a chauffer-driven pink limousine, the group were taken home to Abbotsbury to pick up Chantelle’s friends River, Beth, Mollie, Millie and Georgia.

Tracee said: “The limo took us to the gates of Lulworth Castle where Chantelle and her friends got a horse and carriage ride up to the castle and we followed in the limo. They had a princess party in the castle and the girls had horse and carriage rides and the limo picked us up and took us back again. It was lovely.”

The girls were met at the castle by a princess in a pink dress who joined them for the party.

Tracee said: “She has been talking about it for months. She’s been so excited. It was an amazing day.”

Nurses at Dorchester helped Chantelle to send off her application for her wish to the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

She had to choose three wishes but her fairytale princess-themed day captured their imagination.

Mum Tracee said: “They sent a box with princess clothes and she was screaming opening it. It was lovely.”

She added: “It meant lots to her. It’s all she and her friends have been going on about. It’s just something she won’t forget.”

Tracee said the future wasn’t certain and the family were ‘playing it by ear’ at the moment.

She said: “It was just nice to see her face – she wasn’t thinking about hospital. They treated her like a princess.”

Chantelle said she felt like a real princess. She added: “It was really good. All of it was the best bit.”

Tracee and the family would like to thank Starlight Children’s Foundation for granting Chantelle’s special wish.

Visit starlight.org.uk