8:10am Wednesday 16th August 2006
By Lynn Eccles
The mother of poorly Sacha Skinner has told how the family became caught up in the terror alert as they flew to China last week for pioneering stem cell surgery.
Sacha, five, of Firle Road, Brighton, suffers from Batten Disease, a rare illness that affects the nervous system.
The condition has left her unable to walk or talk without help and she is unlikely to live beyond the age of 12.
Sacha, who was diagnosed last July, is to have ten million stem cells injected into her spinal column once a week during a month-long stay in hospital in Shenyang, northern China.
But as mum Annette Dacosta, 37, her partner Graham and Sacha flew out on Saturday, they were caught up in the chaos at Heathrow following the security shutdown at British airports.
Annette said: "Having managed to get through four hours of queuing at Heathrow we boarded our flight to Shanghai only one hour behind schedule.
"We then cleared customs okay and were quite cheerful during the five-hour wait for our connecting flight.
"However, we were not so cheerful when we were told that we had missed our connecting flight to Shenyang, where the 463 Army hospital is.
"Heathrow had messed up our booking somehow and although we had boarding passes, we were not accounted for on the flight."
Annette and Graham are staying with Sacha for two weeks.
Dad Neil Skinner will then fly out and stay with Sacha for a further two weeks.
Annette told The Argus: "Sacha is fine and she is taking it all in her stride.
"Graham and I are not so happy with China Eastern Airlines but we won't speak too soon as they have yet to get us back to the UK."
Sacha's family hopes the experimental treatment could reverse the effects of her condition.
The disease affects one in 30,000 children born in the UK and there is no cure.
Earlier this year Sacha was recognised for her courage in The Argus Achievement Awards.
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