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Grieving Louth parents place pebbles around the world in memory of daughter, 4, who died of rare brain tumour




Grieving parents have paid tribute to their daughter by placing painted pebbles on beaches around the world in her memory.

Lily Harley, four, tragically passed away in her parent's arms on March 28, 2023, after being diagnosed with Grade 3 Ependymoma - a rare type of brain tumour.

Before Lily died, she asked her mum, Emily Morton, 26, and dad Josh Harley, 28, to take her on a sunny beach holiday – but was sadly too unwell to go.

Emily Morton, 26, and Josh Harley, 28, with their daughter Lily Harley from Louth. Emily Morton and Josh Harley have been placing pebbles in memory of daughter Lily, four, who died of a rare type of brain tumour. Photo: SWNS
Emily Morton, 26, and Josh Harley, 28, with their daughter Lily Harley from Louth. Emily Morton and Josh Harley have been placing pebbles in memory of daughter Lily, four, who died of a rare type of brain tumour. Photo: SWNS

Since her passing, Lily's friends and family have been painting pebbles and taking them on their summer holidays - as a way of taking her to the places she never got to visit.

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The brightly coloured stones have been taken to over 57 different locations this summer - including California, Dominican Republic, Switzerland, Tunisia and Sardinia.

They have also been put in UK locations that were special to Lily, including at West Midlands Safari Park near the giraffes – her favourite animal – and at The Deep aquarium in Hull.

A pebble in Fuerteventura. Emily Morton and Josh Harley have been placing pebbles in memory of daughter Lily, four, who died of a rare type of brain tumour. Photo: SWNS
A pebble in Fuerteventura. Emily Morton and Josh Harley have been placing pebbles in memory of daughter Lily, four, who died of a rare type of brain tumour. Photo: SWNS

Lily's parents have set up Lily's Rainbow Fund alongside OSCAR’s Paediatric Brain Tumour Charity to raise money to support other children receiving treatment for brain tumours.

Emily, who works in ambulance support crew, from Louth, said: "Lily was full of life.

''She was always happy, laughing, chatting and singing.

"She was extremely bubbly and sociable, with everyone she met commenting on what an incredible and polite child she was.

Painted pebbles for Lily. Emily Morton and Josh Harley have been placing pebbles in memory of daughter Lily, four, who died of a rare type of brain tumour. Photo: SWNS
Painted pebbles for Lily. Emily Morton and Josh Harley have been placing pebbles in memory of daughter Lily, four, who died of a rare type of brain tumour. Photo: SWNS

"When she died, we wanted to get away and go on that holiday in her honour and felt like leaving a pebble with her name on it is a way of taking her to all of the places we never got to.

"It’s our way of keeping her name alive and allowing her to travel with us."

Lily was diagnosed with Grade 3 Ependymoma - a form of cancer rarely found in children - in January 2022 after her parents noticed changes to her behaviour over Christmas 2021.

The tot appeared tired and her nursery teachers noticed that her head was tilting to the left, causing her to be off balance.

Josh Harley, 28, with his daughter Lily Harley from Louth. Photo: SWNS
Josh Harley, 28, with his daughter Lily Harley from Louth. Photo: SWNS

"We thought she was tired from the Christmas excitement," Emily explained.

"We sometimes look back and wish we realised sooner, but we didn’t know they were brain tumour symptoms."

Lily underwent two surgeries, each 10 hours long, at Sheffield Children's Hospital, Sheffield, to remove the tumour.

The tot spent a year bravely enduring multiple treatments - including flying to Germany for 33 rounds of proton beam therapy over seven weeks - but the cancer returned, and Lily passed away on 28 March 2023.

Lily Harley from Louth. Photo: SWNS
Lily Harley from Louth. Photo: SWNS

Emily said: "She lost the ability to do literally everything after the surgeries and had to learn to sit, crawl, walk, talk, eat, drink, swallow, everything again.

"The chemotherapy made her extremely weak and poorly.

"She had multiple blood and platelet transfusions as well as IV antibiotics.

"It made her extremely pale, lethargic and weak. It also made her extremely sick and caused multiple complications.

Painted pebbles for Lily. Emily Morton and Josh Harley have been placing pebbles in memory of daughter Lily, four, who died of a rare type of brain tumour. Photo: SWNS
Painted pebbles for Lily. Emily Morton and Josh Harley have been placing pebbles in memory of daughter Lily, four, who died of a rare type of brain tumour. Photo: SWNS

"But Lily being Lily always kept playing, going to nursery, and carrying on living her life to the best she could."

As part of their charity fundraising efforts, Lily's friends and family began bring painted pebbles on trips away, in her memory.

Each pebble has the Instagram handle @lilyharleysbucketlist painted on so people finding them can discover more about Lily and Lily’s Rainbow Fund.

It was Josh's Grandmother Barbra Shaw, 83, who originally came up with the idea, and there has now been over 100 pebbles shared in over 60 locations around the world.

Lily Harley. Photo: SWNS
Lily Harley. Photo: SWNS

Emily said: "We wanted to do something that would keep Lily’s name and legacy alive.

"We don’t want her to be forgotten, this is a fear I never knew I’d have until she died. We also want to be a part of something much bigger and help raise funds and awareness for paediatric brain tumours.

"Lily loved the beach. She loved taking her dogs and her uncles dogs to the beach whilst running around after them.

"So taking the painted pebbled to different beaches around the world seemed like a beautiful tribute.

"Lily was the first person to help out others, and although she was too young to understand all of this, she always felt sad when she saw other poorly children at the hospital, she was so empathetic and caring and we want to keep that going.

"We are obviously still in the thick of our grief and it’s extremely hard to process life without Lily, but if we can use our experience to help even one child and family then that helps a lot. We know that Lily would have wanted this, she’d have loved the attention and helping others.

"Nothing will bring Lily back so we need to do what we can with our experience to try and ensure as little families as possible go through this."

Lily's Rainbow Fund has already raised £10,000, and you can support the cause by donating here - https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/lilys-rainbow-fund

To find out more about Lily's Rainbow fund, please visit oscarspbtc.org/lily.

Lily's pebbles have been taken to:

Dominican Republic

Santa Monica, California

Lake District

Old Man of Coniston (Emily and Josh climbed to the top)

Barcelona

Switzerland

Italy

Coniston Water

Peter Rabbit’s Garden, Greenwich Park

Devon

Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire

Fuerteventura

West Midlands Safari Park (next to Lily’ favourite animals)

Scotland

Isle of Whithorn, Scotland

The Deep in Hull, her first post relapse day out

Palma de Mallorca

Sandilands, Lincolnshire

Canada

Turkey

Amsterdam

Tunisia

Sardinia

Lily Pond, San Francisco

Silverstone

Norway

Germany

Erasmus Park, Amsterdam

Lytham St. Anne’s

Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Tenerife

Gilleje, Denmark (placed by Marie, mum of Oscar Hughes, founder of OSCAR’s PBTC along with stones for her sons and husband)

Lanzarote

Costa Adeje, Tenerife



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