A brave little girl with a rare life-threatening illness has lived out her dream of being an international football mascot at Wembley. Much of ten-year old Leah Bent's short life has been spent in and out of hospital with serious illnesses including Interstitial Lung Disease and the rare and dangerous Pulmonary Hemosiderosis, but on the 15th of November she fulfilled her wish to walk out in front of 90,000 cheering supporters and millions of tv viewers at the England v Sweden match at Wembley Stadium.

Leah, who also has downs syndrome and has to be fed through a gastric tube, was given this wonderful experience by the Sports Connections Foundation, a leading childrens sports charity based in Peterborough who include Leah's namesake Darren Bent and fellow England superstar James Milner as ambassadors to the Charity.

R Costings has recently become a charity partner of the Sports Connections Foundation and were delighted to fund the mascot package for Leah. Managing Director Paul Reason said the firm could not think of a more worthy cause. He added "as a parent myself, it is incredible to think what these children and parents go through on a daily basis, so we are delighted to be able to give them the chance to have such a fantastic day. As a charity partner we hope we can help the SC Foundation make a lot of children very happy – the Charity does so much excellent work and relies on donations and sponsorships to make dreams come true for these terminally ill children"



Pictures show Leah with Sweden's captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic and with England manager Fabio Capello.

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