A mother has been left heartbroken after being advised by doctors not to take her ill son on a pilgrimage to Lourdes for his first birthday.

Leanne Whalley, of Bierley, said she was in tears when doctors made the decision only days before she hoped to make the trip with Michael, who has cerebral palsy.

Staff treating the infant at St Luke's Hospital, Bradford, said the boy was not fit enough to travel to the legendary healing place in south-west France.

Leanne, 20, said she was devastated at being unable to make the journey on Friday.

"Lourdes is renowned for healing and I just want him blessed in holy water, but now I can't do that," she said.

She is now considering taking her son to Ireland to be blessed by a priest.

Michael is unable to digest solid food and is fed milk through a tube directly into his stomach.

He has recently suffered pneumonia and was readmitted to hospital on Monday with a throat infection.

Last week the Telegraph & Argus reported that the White Hart pub and Quickline Taxi service raised more than £2,000 to help pay for the trip.

A spokesman for the Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust said Michael's condition could require urgent medical attention at any time.

He said the child's condition would be monitored all the time. "Once he is stable and fit, we shall do all we can to help him go to Lourdes," he said.

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