A poorly five-year-old boy loves Henry the Hoover so much he made a 4,000 mile pilgrimage to see where the iconic vacuums are made.

Erik Matich, who lives in Illinois, USA, was diagnosed with leukaemia last September and has a three-year chemotherapy treatment plan ahead of him.

The youngster has loved vacuums since he was a toddler and has 10 different machines at home.

To help lift his spirits, Make-A-Wish charities on either side of the Atlantic teamed up to make one of his biggest dreams come true – to meet the real Henry at the Somerset factory where they are made.

‘His excitement when we got to the production line and saw his very own vacuum in his favourite colour with his name on was really special,’ Erik’s mum, Alysia, said of the trip.

‘When we were told that Erik could create a wish, he was so excited.

‘The most fabulous thing we could think to do for him was to see where the Henry vacuum cleaners are made.’

The family visited the UK in May and, in between some sightseeing in London and Edinburgh, were welcomed into the Chard factory where Erik’s favourite machines come to life.

Erik was able to play with Henry in the showroom, explore the museum displaying a range of older machines and enjoy a guided tour around the factory where 1,000 workers toil around the clock building more than 6,000 machines each day for distribution around the world.

The wide-eyed youngster, wearing a bright orange high-visibility vest over his Make-A-Wish T-shirt, was thrilled to be presented with his very own one-of-a-kind blue ‘Erik’ vacuum.

He was equally over the moon to receive a powerful ‘turbo brush’, a giant personalised comic strip poster of his adventures, and a bag of goodies to remember his trip.

Alysia said: ‘Erik is such a bright, curious boy who loves asking questions and finding out how things work.

‘Seeing all these vacuums and how all the components fit together has got to be a dream come true for him.’

She added: ‘This wish has felt like such a relief to see that Erik can still have so much joy in his life and still enjoy things that normal healthy children can experience.

‘Just seeing the smile on his face has brought a sense of peace to my heart.’

Paul Stevenson, from Numatic International, who showed the little lad around said the company was ‘delighted’ to work alongside the charity and ‘make Erik’s wish come true’.

‘To see a young boy so happy to receive his own personalised vacuum cleaner brought a smile to everyone’s face; we were overwhelmed with his enthusiasm for our products, and it was a great pleasure to be involved,’ he added.

Make-A-Wish UK grants life-changing wishes to children with critical illnesses.

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