'She deserves the world': Desperate mum makes urgent plea to fulfil daughter's dying wish to meet superstar Harry Styles
A mum is trying to make her dying daughter’s dream come true - meeting Harry Styles
A heartbroken mum has said she is “overwhelmed” at the amount of people trying to make her daughter’s dying wish a reality.
Nine-year-old, Poppy Fletcher (also known as Big Girl), who was born with short bowel syndrome, was counting down the days until she could see her favourite pop star, Harry Styles, perform at Wembley this June.
But the Gosport youngster’s dream of attending the concert is no longer an option due to her declining health, after being diagnosed with multi-organ failure and bone marrow failure, which is preventing her from receiving a transplant.
Lisa Fletcher, Poppy’s mum, said: “She was born very prematurely, she was born at 24 weeks and has always been poorly but now she has multi-organ failure and the hope was that she was going to have a multi-organ transplant but then she got bone marrow failure which means she’s too sick now.
“She is very poorly. We are just trying to manage her to make sure she’s out of as much pain as possible and just enjoy what time we have left with her. She has always been ill but it’s got to the point where there is nothing they can do for her.”
In order to make Poppy’s remaining time special, Portsmouth-based charity Sophie’s Legacy made a heartfelt plea on social media asking for help to make Poppy’s musical dream of meeting the international superstar a reality - and hundreds of people have tried to help.
The post says: “We have supported this beautiful family for the past few years, and we are asking, from the bottom of our hearts, if anyone can help make this one last wish come true. A message, a video, or if at all possible a visit would mean everything to her and her family in this incredibly difficult time. Please share this far and wide.
“Let’s try to reach Harry or someone in his team who can help make a little girl’s dream come true.”
Lisa continued: “I’m just overwhelmed - absolutely overwhelmed - that so many people are trying so hard to make this happen.
“She has touched the hearts of so many people. Everyone that meets her falls in love with her. She has been all over the place with hospitals and she has just got so many people that love her. There is not another Big Girl - the things she’s been through and she smiles through it. There is no one like her.
“Please try and help make this little girl's dream come true. She deserves the world and she is going to have her world taken away from her. She deserves for people to help her and make this dream come true.”
In 2021, Poppy underwent a liver transplant after total parenteral nutrition (TPN) treatment damaged the one she was born with, but last September she went into organ failure and had to be admitted to intensive care after contracting sepsis.
Since then she has been on dialysis four days a week at Southampton General Hospital, and has to endure six-hour rounds of treatment to not only clean her blood but to replace the fluid in her body.
Lisa added: “The hospital wanted her to spend as little time there as possible but because she’s so much worse since then that’s no longer an option. It’s hard going on her. It’s exhausting, tiring and it’s really sad that I can’t promise her that she is going to get better. We nearly lost her before her liver transplant but there was hope - Now there’s no transplant and no getting better and that’s heartbreaking.
“We do have the option to stop treatment if we want to but at the moment we are going to keep doing it so we can snatch as many weeks that we have left and make as many memories with her as we can.”
Contact Sophie Lewis at The News at [email protected] if you can help with Poppy’s wish.