Frampton’s message to terminally ill Lacey (4)
boxer Carl Frampton has sent a message of encouragement to a terminally ill Dundonald girl and her family.
Little Lacey Pollock (4), who is now in the Royal Victoria Hospital’s paediatric intensive care unit, will be the fifth child in her family to lose their life to the mystery illness.
She had not been expected to survive the weekend, but last night was still clinging to life with the aid of a ventilator.
The family have already lost four of Lacey’s siblings, aged between nine weeks and 13 years, to the undiagnosed condition.
Lacey also has four brothers, who do not suffer from the condition.
Last week, the Belfast Tele- graph told how her devoted mum Jamie (35) and dad Mark (41) were appealing for help to grant wishes to make precious memories of their last days with their daughter.
One of those wishes was to get a message from Tigers Bay boxing champ Frampton — and the local legend came through for the Co Down family.
Speaking in a video message from his training camp, he told Lacey: “I’m sending you a quick message from training camp to let you know that I’m thinking about you.
“I think you have touched the hearts of the whole community and I can say for myself that you have definitely touched my heart.
“I’m thinking about you kid, I’m in your corner and I think everyone else is too. Good luck to you and good luck to your family. All the best kid.”
Last night, Lacey’s mum told the Belfast Telegraph that the family had drawn strength from Carl’s message.
“It was brilliant to receive the message. It came to us on Thursday, and our boys just loved it,” she revealed.
“It meant a lot, it was a mesCARING sage of encouragement and it put a smile on their faces all day.
“We are all just about holding it together. The doctors are planning to withdraw life support from Lacey on Thursday.
“I can’t bear to think about it — we are devastated that we are going to lose her.”
Despite her grief, Jamie was determined to pass on the family’s thanks to everyone who helped fulfil their “wish list” for Lacey.
“With the community’s help, we have managed to do nearly everything on our list,” she continued.
“The only thing we haven’t yet got is help to create a memory garden at our home for Lacey and our other children, so we are still appealing for help with that.
“We can’t thank people enough for their generosity.”