A Bermondsey cancer sufferer whose dying wish is to meet Ed Sheeran received a “wonderful surprise” from the musician.
Barbara Morris got in touch with the News to see if the newspaper could help her reach out to the chart-topping singer-songwriter, after she was given just months to live.
The 65-year-old said her dying wish was to meet Ed, whose music had brought her comfort since she was diagnosed with skin cancer a few years ago and also lost her husband of 47 years and her father in a short space of time.
Shortly after the News contacted the musician’s management asking if Barbara could meet him in person, she received a video message from none other than the redhead himself.
Appearing on camera in a grey hooded sweatshirt while on tour in New Zealand, the Shape of You and Perfect singer sent his love to Barbara, saying he hoped the message would make her smile.
“Hey Barbara, Ed here,” he said. “I’m currently in Dunedin in New Zealand and I’m sending you a message to… I heard that you’re a fan so I wanted to say ‘hi’ and I hope this makes your day and makes you smile, so lots of love.”
Barbara said she didn’t realise what the video was at first and was “a bit shocked”.
“I clicked on it on my phone and he was just there, it was a wonderful surprise,” she said.
“My grandson has saved the video for me so I can watch it whenever I like.”
The mother of three said she appreciated the video, but admitted she was slightly disappointed that she didn’t get to meet Ed in person.
“I know he’s really busy but I would still love to meet him,” she said. “When I first watched the video I was a bit disappointed but then I thought about it afterwards and I was really grateful.
“He’s such a busy man, so it was great for him to do that for me.”
Barbara was diagnosed with malignant melanoma a few years ago after noticing a lump on her right leg, which doctors managed to cut out.
But earlier this year she was given the tragic news that the skin cancer had spread and that she had stage four metastatic melanoma.
The grandmother said she was given just four to six months to live unless immunotherapy treatment works.
“I’m on my third cycle of immunotherapy now but it’s making me really, really tired almost like I’ve got flu,” she said.
“I think there’s one more cycle and then the doctors will do scans to see whether it has shrunk my tumour.
“I will always have stage four cancer but there’s a 30 per cent chance it will work and prolong my life.”