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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Katie Weston

Hundreds of bikers turn up to help terminally ill girl fulfil one of her final wishes

Hundreds of bikers turned out at a rally to help a terminally ill girl fulfil one of the final wishes on her bucket list.

Caitlin Shaw, from Cheshire, was given 24 hours to live after being born with a congenital heart disease in 2002, and underwent surgery at just three weeks old.

She has since faced a lengthy battle of appointments and further operations, including a heart bypass to save her life at the age of six.

A few years later, around the age of 10, she was diagnosed with severe Klippel-Feil syndrome and severe scoliosis kyphoscoliosis - a combination of rare spinal disorders which "has never been seen in the world".

In the weeks leading up to her 21st birthday, she agreed to a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order after doctors told her there was nothing more they could do to treat her condition.

Despite being in and out of hospital for months at a time, Caitlin has taken it in her stride and set out on a mission to make lasting memories with her family.

One wish on her bucket list - and much to her mum's "horror" - was to ride a motorbike.

Hundreds upon hundreds of bikers turned up to take Caitlin out for a ride on a trike (Samantha MacVicar)
They travelled in a convoy that stretched on for miles from her home town of Northwich, Cheshire (Samantha MacVicar)

After her stepdad spread the word on social media, hundreds upon hundreds of bikers turned up to take Caitlin out for a ride on a trike.

They travelled in a convoy that stretched on for miles from her home town of Northwich, Cheshire all the way to Wales.

Riders gathered from all corners of the UK, including Scotland, London, Wales, the Midlands, Yorkshire, Manchester, Liverpool and Warrington.

Event organisers Andy Stocker and Kaz Brittle, who set up the 1000cc Club, said they were very excited and happy that they were able to grant Caitlin one of her wishes.

Her mum, Samantha MacVicar, added: "We just wanted to thank everyone for their continued support."

Caitlin with her mum, Samantha MacVicar (Sam Jane MacVicar)
Caitlin's stepdad spread the word on social media (Samantha Jane MacVicar)

Next on Caitlin's bucket list will be something surrounding her love for horses, and she also hopes to go to a festival.

Her biggest wish was to go to Spain, but she is unable to fly due to the severity of her condition.

Instead, Caitlin raised enough funds to go on a cruise and managed to paddle in the Mediterranean, along with visiting France and Italy.

Her mum previously said: "She's never been able to go abroad. If she was happy and healthy, I think she would have been a traveller.

"When growing up she was always saying 'I want to go here, I want to go there', which pulls on your heartstrings as a parent - when she says that and you're sat there thinking 'you're never going to be able to go'.

"So her main one was to go abroad, but she's not allowed to fly because of the pressures of the heart, in case anything happens.

Caitlin raised enough funds to go on a cruise (Sam Jane MacVicar)

"So the only way we can go is by cruise. She wants to go to Spain, Amsterdam, and the other places she wants to visit are in the UK - London, Ireland and Scotland."

Caitlin is steadily working through the rest of her bucket list, which includes meeting Danny O'Donoghue from The Script and pulling pints from as many pubs as she can.

Samantha continued: "She absolutely loves all the soaps - Coronation Street, Eastenders... she's met some of the cast from Emmerdale, then she writes to Eastenders and Coronation Street constantly.

"She wanted to go to Blackpool for a final time - for some reason she loves it there, I'm not a big lover of Blackpool but we have to go with it!

Caitlin celebrating her 21st birthday (Caitlin's wishes/Facebook)

"She can't do what other 21-year-olds would normally do, getting drunk and partying, so we took her to the show Mamma Mia. She absolutely loved that."

At the time of writing, Caitlin's family has raised over £17,600 through 546 donations on their GoFundMe page.

Samantha said: "We're just overwhelmed by the support that we have got. It's been amazing really. At first people were saying we should start one, and I was like 'I don't really want to'. It's not something you really want to do.

"She's quite a comical little lady really, and she just takes everything in her stride.

"She does struggle doing some of the activities on the bucket list, but she won't give in. As soon as she would say 'I want to ride a horse', she'd be straight on it, and she wouldn't give in until she got on that horse."

You can help Caitlin to fulfill her last wishes by donating to her fundraising page here.

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