PUBLISHED: 07:00 03 July 2018
Eight-year-old Kaleigh Lau lost her two year battle to a rare brain tumour two weeks ago, her family held a Celebration of life at Greenacres in Epping Forest which included a picnic. Photo by Ellie Hoskins
Ellie Hoskins +44(0)7743306087 www.elliehoskins.com
Hundreds came together to celebrate the life of an eight-year-old Woodford Green girl who passed away after a two year battle with a rare brain tumour.
Friends, family, politicians and musicians were among the four hundred who gathered to celebrate the life of Kaleigh Lau, of Snakes Lane East, on Saturday, June 27.
The event in Epping Forest was marked with brightly coloured ice cream, the freeing of doves and speeches from Ilford North MP Wes Streeting and singer-songwriter Jess Mills – the daughter of the late Labour MP Tessa Jowell.
The forest awash with pink fabric, pastel-shaded clothing and Team Kaleigh T-shirts – a mark of solidarity with her two-year battle with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG),
“It was in everyway the perfect send off for our Princess Kaleigh,” said dad Scott Lau.
“She would have loved it.”
Kaleigh was diagnosed with DIPG in April 2016, after she began to suffer double vision; unbalanced walking and her left hand became very weak.
In 2017, she started travelling to Mexico every month with her family, to try and find a way of halting the tumour through a pioneering treatment.
She died peacefully in the company of her family – including Scott, mum Yang, six-year-old brother Carson and grandmother – at around 9.20am on Tuesday, June 12.
“Princess K now rests under a field maple tree, which has a pond right next to it, so she can feed the ducks; has little grass moulds where she can roll around on; an old fashioned steam train which runs close by,” Scott wrote in a post of Facebook following Saturday’s event.
He added: “The location is just so peaceful, so warm, so tranquil, just perfect for our Princess.”
Tributes on Kaleigh’s resting place included a black and white cat cuddly toy, multi-coloured converse and a flower bouquets.
Her school friends read poetry in the sun-baked forest, while nursery and primary school teachers offered reflections on her life.
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