AN invitation to meet the Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy, marked the end of a traumatic five weeks for plucky youngster Sophie Goodman.

Six-year-old Sophie, a pupil at King David Infant School, fell seriously ill at the beginning of May and was rushed to Booth Hall Hospital where she was diagnosed as suffering from pneumonia.

After a couple of days, Sophie's condition worsened and she was transferred to the intensive care unit at Pendlebury children's hospital after developing a rare condition, Empyema.

During the transfer journey, paramedics were able to monitor her condition using a Propac Vital Life Signs Monitor which measures the amount of oxygen in the blood, a patient's blood pressure and pulse.

"The equipment did save her life," said Sophie's mother Yvonne.

She continued: "Sophie was critically ill. It came from nowhere. She came home from school complaining of a sore throat and headache and after a couple of days at home we realised she was desperately ill."

Mrs Goodman, who lives in Park Road, Prestwich, with husband Michael, said the accident and emergency department identified Sophie's pneumonia from an x-ray, but as her condition deteriorated, she became critically ill quite quickly.

She said: "It was horrendous. Sophie had developed a very rare condition, Empyema, which meant there was a lot of pus collecting on her lungs, making it increasingly difficult for her to breathe. She needed an operation to insert a chest drain and was transferred to Pendlebury. It was touch and go in intensive care but thank goodness the treatment worked."

"It is every mother's worst nightmare," added Mrs Goodman, "and it totally knocked Sophie out. But she has been amazing and it shows that a horror story can work out."

Brave Sophie is now on medication, recovering at home and her parents are hopeful she will return to school before the end of the summer term.

As a special treat, last week, she was invited along to meet Charles Kennedy MP as he visited Greater Manchester Ambulance Service (GMAS) and representatives from the Children's Hospital Appeal Trust (CHAT) at Ladybridge Hall in Bolton.

CHAT is the official charity for GMAS and has recently raised £757,000 to equip local ambulances with state-of-the-art paediatric equipment such as the Propac Vital Life Signs Monitor used on Sophie.

Mrs Goodman said Sophie was "in her element" when she was introduced to Mr Kennedy, as it was her first proper trip out of the house since her illness.

She said: "Sophie knows who Tony Blair is so I explained that there were three leaders. She thinks Charles Kennedy is Tony Blair's friend! She was very excited about the day and Mr Kennedy joked that she should be applying for her Equity card as she was loving every minute of it."

Mr Kennedy praised the hard work of the CHAT team for raising £6 million since the charity was established in 1985 and added: "The amount of money raised by CHAT is staggering."