VICKI Jones's beaming face said it all for her family, when the young leukaemia-sufferer finally made it to Disneyland Paris.

The Jones family have now returned home from their trip in France after a holiday of a life-time.

The holiday had at one point looked in doubt, when Phoenix Cancer Care for Kids, an organisation that had pledged to raise money for the trip, disappeared around the time the money was due.

The Charity Commission and West Yorkshire police said on Monday they were still investigating the unregistered charity, which gave an address at Dudley Hill in Bradford.

Vicki's parents, Carol and Bryan Jones, of Waldridge, near Chester-le-Street, could not bear to tell their daughter her dream holiday was ruined when they realised they were not going to get the £900 pledged by Phoenix Cancer Care for Kids.

But readers of the Advertiser's sister paper The Northern Echo stepped in and raised the amount - enough to cover the cost of the trip and to give the family spending money.

The family arrived on Monday last week after spending a couple of days in Leeds with nurses Andrea Marchant and Mary Appleton.

The women run Batti About Kidz, a bona fide charity that took Vicki and other seriously ill children to France in a specially equipped Jumbulance.

Vicki's dad Bryan Jones said the week's break was something they would remember for the rest of their lives.

He said: "It was like a dream from start to finish. It was something we'll remember for the rest of our lives.

"I was in tears half the time, I don't mind admitting. It was so nice to see Vicki's face because she had been waiting for so long. She didn't want to come home, none of us did."

People are still fund-raising for Vicki, to send her to EuroDisney again once her treatment has finished.

One of the more unusual fund-raising events is being organised by two strippers, who have offered to organise a charity night in Peterlee, at a date yet to be announced.

Vicki's family are delighted by the lift the recent holiday has already given their little girl, who has acute lymphatic leukaemia.

Bryan said: "It's given Vicki such a boost.

"I would just like to thank all The Northern Echo readers who donated money.

"We've sent cards already to people we had addresses for, just to let them know we'd got there safely, but some people wanted to remain anonymous.

"So I'd just like to thank them. They know who they are."