Two parents are finding ways to honor their late daughter after she died tragically from a rare type of brain tumor earlier this year.
Lily Harley was a four-year-old from Lincolnshire, England, who was diagnosed with a grade 3 ependymoma brain tumor in January 2022.
After a year of fighting cancer, Harley died in March 2023, as SWNS reported.
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The child’s parents, Emily Morton, 26, and Josh Harley, 28, are now attempting to make their daughter’s dying wish come true and take her on a sunny beach vacation.
Morton said that before their daughter died, all the girl wanted to do was go on a vacation with her family. The parents are now trying to honor their late daughter the best way they know how, she told SWNS.
Lily Harley was diagnosed with a brain tumor in January 2022. She passed away in March 2023. (SWNS)
“When she died, we wanted to get away and go on that holiday in her honor, 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,” she said.
The parents have set up a charity called the Lily’s Rainbow Fund with OSCAR’s Pediatric Brain Tumor Charity to help support other children suffering from brain tumors.
Harley’s parents travel and leave painted rocks in their late daughter’s honor. (SWNS)
With the help of the charity, Harley’s friends and family began painting rocks or pebbles and bringing them on trips around the globe in her honor.
Over 100 painted rocks have been delivered to over 60 locations around the world to remember Harley’s legacy, said SWNS.
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“We don’t want her to be forgotten, [but] we also want to be a part of something much bigger and help raise funds and awareness for pediatric brain tumors,” the late four-year-old’s mother said to SWNS.
A rock on a beach in the Dominican Republic honors Harley’s legacy. (SWNS)
The locations of the rocks honoring Harley include the Dominican Republic; Barcelona, Spain; Italy; Palma de Mallorca; Canada; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Norway; Germany; Scotland; and other cities and countries.
Lily’s Rainbow Fund has raised over $10,000 —and Morton said she is grateful for it.
“Nothing will bring Lily back, so we need to do what we can with our experience to try and ensure [that] as [few] families as possible go through this,” she said.
Lily Harley was just four years old when she died in early 2023 of a brain tumor. Her family is working to make sure her legacy lives on. (SWNS)
Harley, described as “full of life” by Morton before the diagnosis, first had signs of tiredness and a head tilt, which were causing her to be off-balance.
Harley underwent surgery to remove the tumor — which left her with lasting effects, Morton told SWNS.
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“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,” she said.
Morton said, however, that Harley would have wanted to help others.
A pebble in Turkey honors Harley’s legacy. (SWNS)
“We know that Lily would have wanted this — she’d have loved the attention and helping others,” she said.
For more information on the charity efforts, visit oscarspbtc.org/lily.
Fox News Digital reached out to Lily’s Rainbow Fund for further comment.
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