SLEEP TIGHT LITTLE ONE
Defoe’s heartbreaking tribute to best friend Br adley
HEARTBROKEN footballer Jermain Defoe last night paid a moving tribute to his “best friend” Bradley Lowery.
The star posted a montage of beautiful photos of him with the six- year- old cancer victim, who died on Friday, and wrote: “Sleep tight little one.”
He also added in a series of tweets: “Goodbye my friend, gonna miss you lots. I feel so blessed God brought you into my life and had some amazing moments with you and for that I’m so grateful.
“I’ll never ever forget the way you looked at me when I met you for the first time, the genuine love in those cute eyes. Really finding it hard to find words to express what you mean to me.
Courage
“Your courage and bravery will continue to inspire me for the rest of my life. You’ll never know what a difference you made to me as a person.
“God has you in his arms and I will always carry you in my heart.”
Meanwhile Bradley’s grieving family yesterday slammed a fake Twitter account purporting to represent them just hours after his death from rare childhood cancer neuroblastoma.
The account, which used the handle @Bradleysfight_ instead of the real account for the Lowerys @ Bradleysfight, had amassed 13,300 followers.
It described itself as the “Official Page”. But the family’s real Twitter account today posted: “Please be aware there is a fake account around. Yes @ this heartbreaking time pretending to be Bradley’s family it is @ bradleysfight_ #report .”
The false account was deleted yesterday after it was exposed.
Other Twitter users reacted angrily to the outrage. Adam Brooks tweeted: “Absolute disgrace.” And Benj said: “How low can people get? Absolute dregs of society!” Bradley’s mum Gemma told how she sat his young cousins down and told them the brave little Sunderland fan had passed away but would always be with them. She said whenever they see a white feather, they will “know Bradley was there”. Later the little boy’s aunt Kelly Stonebank told on Facebook how she took her girls to the shop to get them “a little treat for being so strong” and saw a small white feather fly into daughter Jorja’s face. The youngster called out: “Mammy, mammy, our Brad is here. Auntie Gemma was right.” One of brave Bradley’s closest pals, a girl who underwent gruelling cancer treatment alongside him, sobbed after being told he had died, her mum has revealed. Distraught Brooklyn Hutchinson, eight, asked: “How can Bradley be dead? He’s only six.” The two built an unbreakable bond as they received draining bouts of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Both suffered a relapse at the same time.
Brooklyn, who has suffered cancer in her kidney and lung, was last with Bradley at his birthday party in May, bringing a smile to his face even though he struggled to get out of his pushchair through sheer exhaustion.
Her mum Joanne, 40, said: “She was very upset. It was heartbreaking to watch.
“In her mind she’s eight and so much older. To her he seemed little and it was hard for her to understand how he could be the one to go.
“She’s dealing with things in her own way but as a family we’re devastated for Bradley’s mum and dad they are lovely, lovely people.” Brooklyn is in remission and on a long road to recovery.