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Heartbroken parents of 10-year-old Harry Potter fan with rare terminal illness hope to take her on ‘dream’ trip

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By Douglas Whitbread via SWNS

The heartbroken parents of a ten-year-old Harry Potter fan hope to take her on a “dream” trip to America after she was diagnosed with a rare terminal illness.

Becky Atkin first became worried for her daughter Emily in January after opticians at Specsavers raised some concerns about her sight during a routine check-up.

Doctors at Great Ormond Street hospital later said that she had Juvenile Batten Disease, which can result in progressive vision loss, slurred speech and seizures.

Emily Atkin. (Becky Atkin via SWNS).

Becky said she hasn’t told her “sweet, bubbly, smiley” Emily about the full extent of her illness, which will mean she’s unlikely to live beyond her teenage years.

But the devoted m0m said she was determined to make the Harry Potter fanatic's “dreams come true” by taking her on the trip to Universal Studios in Florida.

She said: “She has a crazy personality, but she very imaginative. She kind of lives in her own little world – mostly Harry Potter.

“I’d like to think its somewhere we would have saved up for and taken her in a few years’ time, but I just hate the thought that she’d miss out now because of this condition.”

“She would absolutely be in her element, and it would be a dream come true for her.”

Becky, a craft business owner from Cottingham, England, said opticians at her local Specsavers first alerted her to an issue with Emily’s health in July 2019.

She said: “We didn’t have concerns at all, it was just a routine eye appointment.

“They noticed something and said, ‘We’re not sure if it’s an issue or not, but we’ve never seen anything quite like this before.’

“They then sent the photos off to Hull Royal Infirmary to see what they thought.”

After Emily underwent scans on her eyes in October of the same year, her mom noticed that her eyesight was starting to deteriorate rapidly while at home during lockdown.

Emily Atkin with family - Ricky (dad) Becky (mom) and Lewis Atkin (bro). (Becky Atkin via SWNS).

Becky said: “She was struggling to see her computer screen. She was putting her face really close to it, so we had to zoom it in quite a lot, and we thought: ‘That’s not normal.'

“Then when she went back into school, when she was coming out of the classroom door, she couldn’t see me in the playground. We thought: ‘Something is not right here.'"

In February 2021, Emily was declared severely visually impaired, and during the following months she was referred to Great Ormond Street hospital for further analysis.

But it wasn’t until Becky noticed that her daughter was struggling with her speech that doctors gave her the crushing terminal diagnosis in January following further tests.

Becky said she struggled to absorb the devasting news that her daughter had an incurable illness when she was first informed by medics.

Emily Atkin. (Becky Atkin via SWNS).

She said: “I don’t think it sunk in during the initial appointment when she told us. It was a few weeks before suddenly I realized this was real – it might have been denial.

“I don’t think I fully grasped it or wanted to grasp it for a few weeks. Telling family and friends was horrible – it was awful, and just heart-breaking.”

She added: “Emily doesn’t fully know the extent of her illness, and part of me thinks she wouldn’t fully understand because emotionally she’s not at the level of a ten-year-old.

“It’s affected her emotional, social development as well, so she’s more like an eight-year-old than a ten-year-old.

“But we told her that her brain doesn’t work quite as it should and that’s why she can’t see very well, and it’s affecting her talking and things.”

Becky said her “imaginative” daughter, who is a big fan of Harry Potter, often fantasizes about the wizarding world on a daily basis.

She said: “She pretends to be Harry Potter a lot, and I have to play various characters throughout the day.

“Sometimes I’m Hagrid, sometimes I’m professor McGonagall, sometimes I’m Ron Weasley. She's very funny – keeps us laughing all the time.

Becky and her husband are now trying to raise £20,000 ($26,736) so they can visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Parks & Resorts in Florida.

She said: “I’d love to take her there, because I think she’d be in her element.

“She’s been to the studios in London. She would absolutely be in her element, and it would be a dream come true for her.”

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