SIX-year-old Georgie Davies was rewarded for her incredible bravery with a trip to Lapland to meet the real Father Christmas.

Five years ago, on December 19, 1996, Georgie burnt her hands so badly in scalding water that doctors feared she would not survive the shock.

Then, when she survived, they warned her parents, Caroline and Bruce, that she could lose both hands.

They were saved by the skill of the surgeons and the dedication of staff in the burns unit at Morriston Hospital, Swansea, but again her parents were warned she could lose all her fingers.

Happily, today, Georgie (pictured) can do the same as other children at Cross Ash Primary School, after a succession of skin grafts and operations.

Impressed by her bravery, staff at Morriston sent Georgie and her mother, who lives at Lettravane Farm, Newcastle, Monmouth, with her father and two-year-old sister, Jasmine, to Lapland for a day.

The trip was organised by the St Lawrence Charitable Fund for Burns Victims, at Morriston, which was first set up when the unit was in Chepstow.

Her mother said: "Georgie spent a month in hospital, and when she celebrated her second birthday on January 2, the staff gave her a birthday cake which said she was three because she spoke so well.

"She is very eloquent because as a toddler she could not point to things because her hands were bandaged, so she learned to speak properly very quickly. "She has been incredibly brave throughout, she has never refused to have any treatment, in fact she teaches us all to be very brave.

"We have had absolutely fantastic treatment from the NHS, and we were so touched that they thought of giving her a trip to Lapland after all these years.

"She has a wonderful relationship with the consultant, Mr William Dickson. All the staff have become our friends. They are such amazing people.

"She will still need treatment in the years ahead, and the staff said she was chosen not only for her bravery but to give her encouragement to face more treatment." Mrs Davies said Georgie loved everything about their eight-hour stay in Lapland, especially meeting Father Christmas.

She said he was the real Father Christmas, and then when he left she was staring into the sky, waiting for him to fly away.

"She told me it was the best holiday she ever had, and she has had some good holidays.""