A weepy one...
Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 1:26 am
A 15-year-old girl with terminal cancer is smiling after her "bucket list" went viral on the internet and inspired an outpouring of support from around the world.
Support from celebrity tweeters including Justin Bieber and Katy Perry has generated so much exposure that almost everything Alice Pyne wants to do before she dies will be granted.
Alice's Hodgkin's lymphoma - cancer of the white blood cells - is spreading through her body and she may have just weeks to live. The girl, from the northwest English town of Ulverston, created a blog on Monday, "Alice's Bucket List", to catalogue her final days and talk about her final wishes.
"It doesn't look like i'm going to win this one. The cancer is spreading through my body," she wrote on her blog.
"It's hard because I gave it my all. And it's a pain because there's so much stuff I still want to do. Anyway, Mum always tells me that life is what we make of it."
Within days the blog was going viral and yesterday #alicebucketlist was one of the top trending topics on Twitter. Celebrities including Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Johnny Depp, Channing Tatum, footballer Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Seacrest helped spread the word about her plight.
On her list were things like swimming with sharks, encouraging people to become bone marrow donors, visiting Kenya, entering her labrador Mabel in a dog show, having a photo shoot with her friends, throwing a private cinema party, meeting the band Take That, staying in a caravan, going whale watching, buying a purple iPad, going to Cadbury World ("and eat loads of chocolate"), having a back massage and having her hair done.
Alice, who was diagnosed with cancer almost four years ago and has undergone extensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments, was inspired by 2008 movie The Bucket List, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. They play terminally ill patients who go on a road trip fulfilling their last wishes before they "kick the bucket".
By Wednesday in Britain Alice's plight had spread so far and wide that she was mentioned by an MP, John Woodcock, during question time.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said: "I am sorry to hear about the situation facing Alice and what she's going through, and our thoughts go out to her and her family."
On Thursday Alice published a new blog post saying she could now cross off most things from her list after countless strangers pledged their support.
"I'm off to see Take That this weekend, can you believe it?," she wrote.
"I am so excited and really can't wait, I just hope that I don't get ill or something daft. I've lived in PJs for about a year so mum is going to town to buy some things to bring back for me to try.
"It also looks like the other things I wished to do are being organised so thank you to everyone for that. I feel a very lucky girl."
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/techno ... z1OpeRB2GN
