We can all learn a lesson about friendship from Olly and Natty
Hayley Newman, 54, Cornwall
Ilingered in the doorway as my daughter Natty, then 10, grinned from ear to ear.
It was 2016 and she was on a video call with her new friend Olly, 12.
‘One day we’ll live together at Number 3 by the sea,’ Olly told her proudly.
He’d written Natty a poem and drawn her a picture of their future house, with a heart on the door.
‘Yes, we will,’ she replied matter-of-factly.
I wiped away happy tears. When Natty was born, me and her dad discovered Natty had Down’s syndrome.
It’d been a huge shock, but we quickly adjusted.
And Natty was more than we’d ever hoped for.
Intelligent, fabulous, funny, full of love.
A caring little sister to Mia, two years older.
Natty started modelling aged 5, pioneering for children with disabilities everywhere.
She was the first child in the UK with a disability to appear in a Back to School ad campaign.
Only now, as a child with additional needs, it wasn’t easy for her to make friends.
But I’d recently taken part in a documentary about kids with Down’s syndrome and met Sally, then 46, Olly’s mum.
And we’d hit it off straight away.
It’s the kind of enduring bond we all dream of having
But best of all, Olly, who also has Down’s syndrome, and Natty struck up an instant friendship too. Laughing, dancing, they were inseparable.
And now Olly had written this adorable poem for Natty.
What it described was exactly the future for my girl I longed for. A life filled with happiness and love.
A life I’d feared she’d never get when she was born.
‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they ended up in Olly’s dream home together?’ I said to Sally on the phone after hearing Olly’s poem.
‘I would love that,’ Sally replied.
Olly was so sweet. And it was clear Natty loved having a best friend to confide in.
Sally and I watched their friendship unfold feeling such joy.
Olly lived a nine-hour train journey away.
But Sally would bring him and his two brothers to stay regularly.
The visits were full of beach trips, running into the sea, dressing up in silly costumes, and so many giggles.
Plus, Olly and Natty discovered a shared love of Mamma Mia!.
Every get-together included watching it on a loop, with the duo re-enacting their favourite scenes from the film.
‘I love you and I miss you,’ they’d say to each other at the start of every video call.
They were in touch all the time, sharing everything about their lives.
And as their friendship grew, so did mine and Sally’s. Then in 2019, me and Natty’s dad decided to
