A sick toddler is flying to the United States for vital treatment - largely thanks to generous readers of The Northern Echo.

Little Sophia Carter suffers continuous, round-the-clock, unexplained epileptic seizures.

Michigan based Dr Harry Chugani, the world's leading specialist in epilepsy, says he might be able to help the two and half year old who can neither walk, talk, stand or sit.

Parents Alison and Jon from New Marske, east Cleveland, have been given a date to be in the States within the next few weeks. Curly-haired Sophia will undergo tests on that day and the next, with more brain scans during a 10-day stay. For one of the tests the toddler will be injected with radioactive sugar.

The trip will cost about £7,000, but they already have about £6,000. Most of the money has been collected in less than three weeks. A grateful Mrs Carter said: "Actually, we have had more response from the article in The Northern Echo than from anywhere. It has been so overwhelming; people are just fantastic."

The couple even found over £210 sitting on their doorstep in a mixture of coins and notes, an anonymous donation and the result of a collection. Looking ahead to the trip to America, Mrs Carter commented: "Our hope is they find the focal point in the brain where this is originating.

"If she is eligible for surgery we will have to raise another £57,700 for the operation and of course the expenses of travelling back out there and the stay."

The little girl has already undergone lumbar punctures, blood and urine checks and skin biopsies and steroid injections in Britain, in a bid to find out the cause of her illness. Her parents say a baffled British medical profession has now given up on her daughter and America offers their last chance.

They have set up an appeal - Epilepsy Outlook, at 72 Sandmoor Road, New Marske, near Redcar, TS11 8DJ. Mrs Carter says money left over following Sophia's treatment will be spend on helping other children in similar plights.