NINE-year-old Phoebe Maddison has had a dream come true after her starring role in a documentary about her struggle with diabetes received an Emmy in New York on Monday night.

The St Catherine’s Primary School pupil, of Groundwell West, walked up on stage proudly with the cast and crew of BBC Two programme Same But Different to collect the prize at the second International Kids Emmy Awards.

It came as welcome recognition after the programme just missed out on a BAFTA nomination last year.

Phoebe’s mum, Michelle, stayed up late on Monday night to find out the good news.

“It is absolutely brilliant,” she said. “Because Phoebe played such a large part in the programme she went along, and she even went up on stage and got the award with the rest of the team.

“She met Sir David Jason and Jedward while she was there, and she has got quite a list of celebs she has met now. They were absolutely delightful.

“I spoke to them all just afterwards and the entire table were really emotional, close to tears. They were so ecstatic and happy. I think Phoebe is on cloud nine at the moment. She had her picture taken holding the gong and she was so happy.”

Phoebe was accompanied to New York by her father, Antony, 42.

“I went to the BAFTAs with her and they weren’t so successful there,” said Michelle. “I have been to New York before and Antony hasn’t, so it was his turn to go off on a bit of a jolly.”

The programme was filmed over three days to document the life of a diabetic, and Phoebe, who attends Stagecoach dance school, loved every second.

“Phoebe sings in front of audiences of hundreds already, so she had no qualms about it and they accepted her,” said Michelle.

“She loves it. She started at the age of six, and will sing just to raise money for diabetes. All she wants to do is find a cure.

“She didn’t find any of it intrusive, she just feels like she is doing something good making people aware and everything she is doing is for the greater good.

“It is a fantastic programme to see how a child and their family deals with the condition on a day to day basis. With a diabetic, it’s really difficult to judge what the levels are going to be because of all the hormones. If you go too low you go into a hyper, and if it is really severe it could lead to a coma or even fatality.”

Phoebe is in the process of recording a single with a producer from Milton Keynes about the condition, which is due for release later this year.