Girl losing sight fulfils northern lights dream

The pair enjoyed a reindeer sleigh ride during their trip

An 11-year-old girl who is losing her sight has fulfilled her dream of seeing the northern lights.

Lily-Rae, from Nottingham, has a rare genetic condition called Stargardt disease.

She created a visual bucket list with her mum of places she wanted to see before her sight deteriorates further.

Actor Kate Winslet then donated £5,000 to her online fundraiser that was used to pay for the trip to Finland.

Lily Rae and her mum stayed in a log cabin and a glass igloo

Lily-Rae and her mum saw the northern lights in Lapland during a three-day trip.

The phenomenon, also known as the aurora borealis, is caused by charged particles from the sun hitting gases in the Earth's atmosphere.

Lily Rae said: "First we went husky sledging in the morning. That was quite exhilarating and fun and then in the evening, we went on a reindeer sled ride.

"When we saw them [the northern lights], they started appearing, with different streaks along the way."

Seeing the northern lights in Lapland was at the top of Lily-Rae's visual bucket list

Mum Emma added: "We stayed in a log cabin for a couple of nights and in a glass igloo and in each of the accommodations, they have aurora alarms and it went off at 1:30 one morning.

"Ourselves and our neighbours that we'd made friends with, all rushed out in our pyjamas and there was a fabulous one, right over the cabin that was just swirling and changing colours and it was absolutely beautiful."

Lily-Rae's online fundraiser has topped more than £10,000 and 125 people have made a donation so far, including Winslet.

Kate Winslet donated £5,000 to Lily-Rae's fund which paid for her trip to see the aurora borealis

The Hollywood star also invited the family to London to meet her and watch My Neighbour Totoro at London's Barbican Theatre.

Lily-Rae now hopes to go on a safari in South Africa, visit Paris to go up the Eiffel Tower and travel to Italy, if funds allow.

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