CANCER PAL ON HER ‘GORGEOUS
Jermain: My little one
HE was the boy whose brave smile stole the nation’s hearts.
But for one little girl, Bradley Lowery was more than that he was her “gorgeous best friend” with whom she built an unbreakable bond.
After they had gruelling rounds of chemotherapy in hospital the pair would walk off, hand-in-hand, and play.
They quickly became inseparable but then, on Friday, Brooklyn Hutchinson was told that her football-mad pal had slipped away aged just six.
Today Brooklyn’s mother Joanne tells how her daughter has been left heartbroken.
And she says Bradley’s legacy will inspire his friends to carry on his fundraising work.
Joanne spoke as trolls who set a fake Twitter account in Bradley’s name were slammed as “the dregs”.
PAINTINGS
Bradley and Brooklyn, eight, became chums at the children’s cancer unit at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle.
Brooklyn is getting better but Bradley died in the arms of his parents Gemma and Carl after losing his battle against the neuroblastoma he had fought since he was 18 months old.
Brooklyn sobbed when she got home from school and her mum broke the news.
Joanne, 40, said: “It was heartbreaking to watch. She asked me, ‘How can Bradley be dead? He’s only six’.
“They loved to play together on the ward and used to take themselves off to the arts and crafts room.
“I remember seeing them making hand paintings together. It looked like any other pair of kids enjoying themselves in school.
“Sometimes when they played and laughed together you forgot what they were going through.
“I think that’s what they did for each other. It kept their minds off the treatment and the tough days.”
They last played together at his birthday party in May.
Joanne said: “Poor Bradley was so tired but he managed to smile and was so glad his friends were there.
“In her mind she’s eight JERMAIN Defoe tweeted this moving tribute to Bradley last night.
The pair became close when the lad was mascot for Defoe’s former team Sunderland, and the England star said an emotional goodbye to Bradley at his house last week.
Fans said the Bournemouth striker should be Sports Personality of the Year. Manchester United legend Roy Keane tweeted: “A true role model for every footballer.”