Grieving parents today tell how singer Tom Parker helped their girl through her darkest days as they both battled a terminal brain tumour.
Amani Liaquat, 23, and The Wanted star Tom, 33, bonded through their shared ordeal with the disease.
His texts and voice messages were a source of positivity and it was clear she drew strength from their friendship.
One, last November, said: “I don’t understand. Why do you think you’re dying? You’re not dying. We’re not dying. We are young. We are fit enough.”
Others lifted her spirits as upbeat Tom declared: “I know it’s scary but you’re going to be fine... you’ve got this!”
Tragically, both succumbed to the disease. Amani, a first class honours law graduate who was engaged to be married, died on February 21 – her sister Ruqayyah’s 21st birthday.
Dad-of-two Tom died last Wednesday – and Amani’s parents said it felt like losing another member of the family.
Her dad Khuram Liaquat and mother Yasmin Stannard – who also have 16-year-old daughter Maleehah, 16 – speak movingly about their beloved daughter and her bond with Tom.
They met when the singer was doing a TV documentary on his illness – Tom Parker: Inside My Head.
The Bolton-born star visited Amani and was interviewed for her podcast Chat2Amani.
Khuram, 49, of Luton, Beds, says: “Their journey, the stories of seizures and so on were almost identical so they clicked straight away. To have him keep in touch, to have almost this lifeline from Tom, gave Amani some hope and excitement.
“She was a trapped soul, completely isolated because she couldn’t go out during the pandemic when she was sick. Tom was one of the few people battling the same disease she met in person. Their exchanges turned into almost a little conversation piece.
“She could say, ‘Oh, me and Tom are friends’. It gave her so much joy in her last year.”
In September, Amani saw Tom and his band perform at London’s Royal Albert Hall – rattling off hits like Chasing The Sun and, fittingly, Glad You Came.
Anxious Amani faced more trauma over the next month but Tom was again there to support her.
Yasmin, also 49, says: “She texted Tom a day before brain surgery. His voice note said: ‘I’d be s***ting it! But you’ll be fine. I’m sure of it’.
“He also texted to say: ‘Think of it like this, you could be in a position where they couldn’t do anything. You’ve got this!’ That really helped her.”
On the day Amani died, Tom posted on Instagram : “My thoughts and love are with her family. She was an incredible young lady. Bright, smart, funny and I had the greatest pleasure to meet her.”
He later sent Amani’s family a ceramic angel in a box, a candle inscribed ‘In loving memory’, a packet of Forget-Me-Not seeds and a silver picture frame. “We have that frame in our bedroom,” Yasmin, says fondly. “We put a picture of Amani when she was young in it.
“It was just so generous of him and his wife Kelsey and that was them – always a support and joy, even when he was ill himself, and going through so much with his own family.”
At the time, Tom was in Spain having treatment at a private hospital.
Yasmin goes on: “The day after Amani passed away, Tom messaged me to say he and Kelsey were sending love.
“I said, ‘The time you gave to Amani was the best gift. You gave her some of the best moments in 2021 and she was so excited’.
“He said, ‘Oh Yasmin, that really means a lot’. He was really good at reassuring us. Just keep going, keep fighting.” Another example came on February 6, when Yasmin found Amani clutching her phone.
She explains: “It was gobbledygook what she’d written as she had lost the feeling in one side of her body and had been very poorly. Her vision was going.
“But she’d sent Tom a message in a burst of energy and even though he wouldn’t have understood, he replied. Both of them held on – Amani to get her Masters and Tom for his concerts.”
Amani was diagnosed with grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme, a fast-growing brain cancer, on her 22nd birthday. Her battle lasted 22 months.
Tom – who leaves wife Kelsey and children Aurelia Rose, two and Bodhi, one – lived for 18 months after the same diagnosis in 2020. Solicitor Khuram says: “It was like losing another member of your family – a family with a unique bond.”
Yasmin says: “It totally knocked us to hear of his death. Heartbreaking. But a lesson from Amani and Tom is that whatever you are faced with, you can still make a difference.
“They could have curled up in a heap, but there was still so much that Amani and Tom managed to achieve after their diagnosis. We can all take something from them.”
