10 Year Old Cancer Victim Secretly Has Christmas Presents Delivered to Her Family after Her Death
A 10-year-old girl thoughtfully bought her family Christmas presents online before passing away last month.
Shortly after Lily-Mae McKinstry tragically died of brain cancer in November her family started receiving mystery presents in the post.
Lily-Mae’s parents, Andrew and Vicki from Chelmsford, UK, have since discovered their daughter was secretly buying gifts with her dad’s credit card.
Vicki told the Daily Mail the whole family was “devastated”.
“Our whole world came crashing down, we were making plans and expected Lily to be around for Christmas.
“After she died we were sorting out her things and were so shocked when we saw Andrew’s credit card details in her notebook – but when we chased it up the penny dropped. Our beautiful, special girl had brought us all surprise Christmas presents.”
— LIVIA GAMBLE via Stuff
As a father, my greatest fear is losing my son. I rarely entertain the thought of losing him and I rarely attempt to imagine how I would react.
When I do briefly think about the unthinkable, my mind immediately dwells in darkness. And while I have no intention of dwelling on that darkness, I can only surmise what small twinkle of light these gifts from Lily-Mae must have meant to her parents. It requires great foresight and personal strength to acknowledge the imminence of one’s death. But to also have the added foresight and strength to think about those you’ll be leaving behind and to give them gifts (she also left thank you cards for everyone she loved). Such unselfish acts from a dying 10 year old strike me as the quintessential “spirit of Christmas”.
Even though the admonition sounds cliche around the holiday season, it does do us good to be reminded to love, hug, kiss, enjoy our family and friends with as much meaning as we can muster.
