Aisle make my dying daughter’s wedding dreams come true
Big day brought forward so tragic six-year-old with incurable tumours can be flower girl for father’s bride
LOVING dad Neil Henderson is bringing his wedding forward so his dying daughter Jasmin can be a flower girl.
Neil, 34, said he’ll do “anything he can” to help the brave six-year-old fulfil her wish list – which includes walking down the aisle and a visit to Disneyworld in Florida.
Jasmin, who lost her mum when she was one, was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour condition last year and doctors have told her family there’s nothing more they can do.
It was a cruel blow as Neil had just begun to rebuild a family with fiancee Samantha Adams, Jasmin, older daughter Shola, nine, and five-monthold son Leyton.
Now he is detemined to make the rest of his little girl’s life as happy as possible.
Neil, from Dumfries, said: “When Jasmin was in hospital for radiotherapy, we had her make a list of things she wanted to do once her treatment was finished. This became her happy list.
“Now we’re going to make the most of the time we have to make as many of her wishes as possible come true.” Neil, who works for HMRC in Edinburgh, said his daughter was a bright and sporty pupil who loved gymnastics. But when she started to lose her co-ordination and balance in November last year, he and Samantha took her to the doctor. Neil said: “Tests revealed she had DIPG (diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma) – aggressive brain tumours. We were absolutely devastated. “We were holding on to the hope it could be treatable but it turned out to be an absolute worst case scenario. It is incurable. “Less than 40 children in the UK develop the condition so it’s pretty rare. “It really hurt as we were just building our life together as a settled family unit. “I had just been promoted at work and me and Sam had just got engaged on holiday. We thought we had everything set.” Neil had won custody of Jasmin and Shola five years ago when their mum Alami Gotip was killed by her new partner. The family then grew to five when Samantha gave birth to Leyton.
Neil said: “Jasmin is really fond of Sam and one of her wishes is to be flower girl at our wedding. So we’ve brought that forward to April to make sure that happens.
“Thanks to the When You Wish Upon A Star foundation, we’re also going to Disneyworld Florida next month which is a real dream come true for her.
“While some of the wishes are huge, some are really simple things, like visiting family, having a sleepover with friends and getting rainbow hair extensions.
“We’re just trying to make sure she is as happy as she can be.”
Neil set up an online gofundme page in the wake of a “flood” of offers of donations from wellwishers.
A group of Dumfries walkers, including Neil’s old schoolfriends from Dumfries Academy, are planning a sponsored walk around Mabie Forest at the end of March to raise more funds.
Neil said: “It’s quite special to see the support we’ve had and all the money will help towards hopefully fulfilling all of Jasmin’s wishes.”