I would like to take time out to pay a belated and very special tribute to Hayley Okines who died last week, news of which I - a loyal fan of hers ever since her first documentary aired in the early 2000s - only heard about yesterday.

The star that shone within her was one of the brightest I have ever encountered, and I am sure many of her other fans would say the same. The world, and especially Britain, will undoubtedly be dimmer without her around. The only thing we can do now is never forget the starlight: the radiance, the warmth, the energy. The brevity of her life makes it easy to do just this. In her own words: “Sometimes people ask me if I could have three wishes would I wish I didn’t have progeria. And I say no. It would be good to not have it, and it would be fun to go out and not get stared at and not have loads of people ask questions. I would rather have progeria than not have it, though. Don’t ask me why, but I wouldn’t change it.” For most of us, life is not long enough for us to change our surroundings as much as we would want, yet often long enough for our surroundings to change us from the pure souls we all used to be. For Hayley, whose life was much shorter than most of ours, it was nonetheless long enough for her light to reach millions worldwide, and at the same time short enough to spare her from being tainted by prolonged contact with the ugliness of material existence. She departed early enough to leave in our memory only the image of her at her best and purest, which is how she deserves to be remembered.

http://mashable.com/2015/04/04/progeria-campaigner-dies-hayley-okines/

Farewell, Princess Hayley. You will live on in my heart: spring eternal, autumn undying, love always.

3 Responses to “Hayley Okines RIP”
  1. Prairie Sinner says:

    Just a matter of time. So sad

  2. …spare her from being tainted by prolonged contact with the ugliness of material existence…

    I’ve prayed for death quite a few times. Stories such as these show me why that is such a foolish thing to do…

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