Another teenager setting up a personal blog with a wishlist is hardly newsworthy. However, a blog set up by 15 year-old Alice Pyne gained 10,000 followers just 5 days after its inception. But why the attention?
Alice suffers from terminal-stage Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and has set up the blog dedicated to her ‘bucket list’, a list of 17 things she would like to do before she ‘kicks the bucket’. On Thursday, #alicebucketlist became a trending topic worldwide. Her list includes a trip to Kenya, to swim with sharks and to go whale-watching. Her ideal job is to be a dolphin-trainer.
Alice has been battling Hodgkin's lymphoma for four years, and has been profiled by the BBC a number of times as she searched for a bone marrow donor. Unfortunately, the teen recently learned that her cancer has spread throughout her body. "Now I know that the cancer is gaining on me and it doesn't look like I'm going to win this one," she blogged. Displaying incredible strength and spirit, Alice refuses to back down. “Anyway, mum always tells me that life is what we make of it and so I'm going to make the best of what I have” (6th June 2011).
A sponsor page for Alice’s sister Milly, who is taking part in a charity run for cancer research on Sunday, has also received a huge amount of attention. Alice had hoped to raise 1000 pounds before the run; however, the feisty teenager has already raised 21,000 pounds- and the numbers are still rising.
Among her fans are celebrities like Katy Perry, who tweeted about Alice’s wishes. Readers have also left comments on her blog expressing wishes to help her tick the items off her list, such as meeting British pop group Take That, which she will do this weekend. However, at the top of her list is a wish for everyone to sign up to be a bone marrow donor. Bone marrow transplants can often send lymphoma patients into remission, but locating a suitable donor is often the biggest challenge.
In response to her sudden popularity, Alice is in awe. “Oh dear and I thought that I was just doing a little blog for a few friends! Thank you so much for all your lovely messages to me. I don't sleep very well and I sat up all night reading them as they came in from all over the planet, every single one, and they have made me smile so much so that is a good thing” she writes. “It also looks like the other things I wished to do are being organised so thank you to everyone for that. I feel a very lucky girl.”
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