A fairytale comes true for brave little princess Eileidh, 5
GdDay of dreams as wee cancer fighter ‘marries’ her best pal
IT wasn’t a typical wedding. The bride was five, the groom was six and the guests were princesses and superheroes.
But there won’t be a more beautiful “marriage” this year than the one between brave little Eileidh Paterson and her best friend Harrison Grier.
Eileidh is fighting childhood cancer neuroblastoma – for the third time. Her doctors say that in the long term, she can’t win.
So Eileidh and her family sat down to write her bucket list, and item one was “marry Harrison”.
And her dream came true on Sunday at the AECC in Aberdeen in front of more than 200 loved ones and friends.
Big brother Callum walked Eileidh down the aisle to Disney’s When You Wish Upon a Star.
She and Harrison exchanged necklaces and vowed to be “best friends forever”.
And mum Gail wrote a heartrending wedding speech, with Eileidh cast as a fairytale princess and her cancer as an “evil beast”.
“No beast can take away happiness unless it is allowed to,” Gail wrote. “If Eileidh and Harrison can enjoy the little things, that’s what we should all do.”
The happy couple had candy floss instead of a wedding meal and their first dance was Gangnam Style. They were joined on the dance floor by grown-up guests in Disney princess outfits and every superhero from Iron Man to Spider-Man.
Eileidh had a bad day on Saturday but she bounced back in style for her wedding. Gail, 41, of Forres, Moray, said: “She was like a different girl. The spectacle really perked her up.
“She was in her absolute element, getting to play with the other kids and have fun. These are going to be lasting memories.”
Harrison’s mum Stefanie added: “He has always said he loves her and wants to marry her. They just have this magical bond.
“He doesn’t really like to play dress-up or anything like that – but Eileidh has this way of convincing him.”
Harrison’s dad Billy said: “He knew how important this was to Eileidh and he wanted to do whatever he could for her.”
Eileidh was two when she was first diagnosed with neuroblastoma. A year later, docs could no longer find signs of the disease.
Her family raised £120,000 to send her to America for treatment to reduce the high risk of the cancer returning, but she had her first relapse in February last year.
Harrowing chemotherapy destroyed the tumour. Then the cancer came back again, in January.
Eileidh’s family are now trying to raise £10,000 to help her tick off the rest of her bucket list.
She wants to go to Disneyland, be a zoo keeper for the day and see real snow, among other things. Search on GoFundMe for “Eileidh’s Journey”.
The family wrote on her page: “Eileidh has spent the majority of nearly three years in hospital. She has had countless chemotherapies, scans, cannulas, Hickman lines, surgeries, anesthetics, blood tests.
“Anything we can do to make her life that little bit easier, comfier – and most importantly magical – she certainly deserves it.”