Three-year-old Emma Gorringe forgot about her battle with cancer when she met Mickey Mouse.

The toddler is one of a group of sick children who has just returned from a Christmas charity trip to Euro Disney in Paris.

Emma's mother, Karen McCorkell, from Berinsfield, near Wallingford, said her daughter was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour on her arm in 2005 when she was 18 months old.

A mole on her forearm became cancerous and Emma was given such a large dose of chemotherapy that she now has trouble walking.

Mrs McCorkell, 31, of Evenlode Drive, said: "It was incredibly distressing when Emma was diagnosed with this malignant growth in 2005 when she was just 18 months old.

"The tumour Emma developed was very rare for a baby but there was a high chance of it returning so she was given a very high dose of chemotherapy.

"The whole family went to Euro Disney and now Emma and her sister Chloe, who is eight, can't stop talking about it.

"The trip also gave us a chance to talk to other families who have experienced what we have been through."

The youngsters are all suffering from either cancer or leukaemia and were nominated for the trip by hospitals including Oxford's John Radcliffe, High Wycombe, Royal Berkshire and The Royal Marsden Hospitals.

Eleven families enjoyed the break away from hospital treatments, thanks to the Buckinghamshire-based Thomas Ball Children's Cancer Fund.

Elaine Ball, chairman of the fund, said: "A few days before the trip, three children were admitted to hospital with infections and consequently were unfit to travel.

"The charity would like to send these families to Euro Disney in the New Year so any donations towards this would be appreciated.

"One young lad, who has no curative treatments left, even managed to go up the Eiffel Tower while he was in Paris, which was priceless."

To donate, please visit www.thomasball.org.uk or telephone 01494 890157.

The trustees have also pledged £40,000 towards the cancer ward at the new Oxford Children's Hospital.

The majority of children to benefit from the charity are referred from the John Radcliffe Hospital, where Thomas Ball himself was treated for neuroblastoma in 1997.

Thomas died in 2003, aged 14, but his parents continue to manage the charity that he created.