Nairn's Lily Hey 'incredible' invite to royal wedding

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Lily Hey
Image caption,
Lily Hey described being invited to the wedding as 'incredible'

A girl who helps a charity set up in her brother's name has told of her excitement at attending the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Lily Hey's brother Hamish died last year at the age of eight following a battle against cancer.

The 11-year-old and her family are raising funds to create a beach-front community feature in their home town in Nairn.

Lily told BBC Breakfast that receiving the invite was "incredible".

She said: "My brother Hamish, he passed away so we started this charity called Team Hamish."

Filmed by BBC Breakfast as she prepared for the big day in Windsor, Lily said: "We are going to the Royal Wedding. How incredible is that?"

Image source, Hey family
Image caption,
Hamish Hey died in May last year
Image source, TeamHamish
Image caption,
Lily and her brother Hamish

Lily's grandmother Liz Bow was also invited to join hundreds of other members of the public in the grounds of Windsor Castle for Saturday's wedding.

Lily's parents, Susan and Sam, accompanied her and her grandmother and grandfather Danny to the event.

Image caption,
Lily and her grandmother Liz Bow received invitations to the wedding

The family had visited Windsor three years earlier with Hamish.

Mrs Hey said: "It's been emotional for us all being here without Hamish, and knowing we are here because of him.

"I am sure he is very proud of what we have achieved."

Image caption,
Hamish's mother Susan is fighting her own battle against cancer
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Team Hamish's logo is a rainbow

Hamish was two years old in 2011 when he was diagnosed with a metastatic alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma - a rare and aggressive soft tissue cancer.

Months of intensive treatment followed, including chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Hamish also had pioneering surgery called rotationplasty which resulted in him having a prosthetic limb.

No cure

In March 2016, Hamish was diagnosed with a DIPG, an aggressive, inoperable tumour within the brainstem.

It was unconnected to his earlier cancer, and there was no cure.

The diagnosis came when Susan was receiving treatment herself for breast cancer.

Image caption,
Lily was joined for the Royal event by her parents and grandparents

The Hey family raised funds to support charities that helped Hamish with his treatment and care.

In May last year, following Hamish's death, the family set up Team Hamish to raise money for the building of a new community feature in Nairn.

The charity's logo is a rainbow. Every day for about two weeks after he died his family had seen a rainbow in the sky.

Mrs Hey said: "It has been a very difficult, horrendous time.

"So what we are trying to do is create something positive out of something horrific."

Image caption,
Susan and Lily Hey in the grounds of Windsor Castle on Saturday