Hero dad promises daughter wedding of her dreams and ‘marries’ toddler after terminal cancer diagnosis
Andy Barnard promised his only daughter he would give her “the wedding of her dreams one day”.
But at 16-months-old, life took a cruel twist of fate for little Poppy-Mai, of Norfolk, in the UK, when she was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive terminal brain tumour, and told she had two days to live.
Determined to keep his promise to his little princess, the 31-year-old RAF-serving father ‘married’ his daughter with a ‘wedding ceremony’ attended by family and friends.
Andy's RAF colleagues hastily arranged a wedding day for Poppy-Mai to ‘wed’ her hero father the day after her diagnosis, on March 18.
The pint-sized bride was escorted down the aisle by her mother Sammi Barnard, 29 and big brothers Rylee, six, and Jenson-Jay, four.
“I never ever thought it would be like this. Our hearts are broken forever, but I wanted to keep my promise to my princess. It wasn't how I imagined, but she got her wedding day,” Mr Barnard said.
The room was decorated with ribbons and balloons, with the baby bride dressed in her cousin's christening gown.
Mrs Bernard said she couldn't stop crying during the ceremony.
“Being our only daughter, we'd often talked about one day watching her get married.”
“She looked so beautiful. But nobody could say the vows that had been written because everyone was crying too much.”
On February 14, Mrs Bernard noticed Poppy-Mai had gone off her food and drink and was constipated with a swollen tummy.
The GP initially put the toddler’s symptoms down to teething and prescribed a laxative, but her condition only grew worse.
Days later, the mother noticed a lump under Poppy-Mai’s rib cage, and she had refused to eat, drink and walk, and had begun vomiting.
After a second misdiagnosis from a different GP, Mrs Bernard was so concerned she drove Poppy-Mai to their local A&E, where an ultrasound revealed a tumour in little one's stomach.
She said she was “shocked” to learn her daughter had a type of kidney cancer, and had to break the news to her husband over the phone while he was serving with his squadron in the US.
While Dad was flying home, doctors found cancer in Poppy-Mai's lungs, which spread aggressively in just a week.
Doctors then diagnosed a malignant rhabdoid tumour in the toddler's left kidney and lungs and warned her parents chances of survival were slim.
“Even then we still had hope and if there was a chance she might survive we had to believe in that chance,” Mrs Bernard said.
Poppy-Mai began chemotherapy and appeared to respond well. But on March 16, the toddler’s parents were devastated to learn the cancer has spread to her brain and the size and position of the tumour above her right eye meant it was inoperable.
“I was stunned. I couldn't believe we had been in hospital for four weeks and it had only just been found,” Mrs Bernard said.
Asked how long her daughter would have, she was told two days without treatment.
“I can't even tell you how I felt because I was just in utter shock and disbelief. We just looked at each other trying to take it in.”
“For someone to tell you that your daughter could be gone in two days is unfathomable.”
Doctors said further chemo could prolong the little battler’s life by a few weeks, but Mum decided the side effects were too much to put her baby through.
“I couldn't watch her suffer any more to save our own pain and grief.”
The family returned to their home and the next day Mr Barnard’s colleagues arranged for the wedding ceremony.
The family said each day they can spend with Poppy-Mai has been a “blessing”, and they are enjoying every precious minute they have left.
Her family hopes Poppy-Mai's story will raise awareness of brain tumours after she was sent home from the GP twice before a diagnosis.
The family has created a GoFundMe page to set up a trust in Poppy-Mai's name for other children with rare cancers.
News break – March 25
