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HOW A MOTHER AND DAUGHTER’S CHARITY EFFORTS ENDED IN TRAGEDY
Like many teenage girls in 2012, Megan Bhari was obsessed with One Direction.
But unlike most teenage girls, she met them, befriended them, and the fivesome would name check her at their concerts. She had come to the wildly popular boy band’s attention via her mother Jean, who had bombarded the social media accounts of Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik with posts begging them to message Megan, as she was desperately ill and needed aboost.
At just 17, Megan was battling idiopathic intracranial hypertension –abuild-up of pressure on the brain – as well as abrain tumour. But despite her health woes, she set up the charity Believe In Magic with her mum, which arranged events for sick children, including parties, and meet-and-greets with celebs at glitzy fundraisers. Once, they arranged for 18 “little princesses” to travel to Buckingham Palace to help decorate the Queen’s Christmas tree, meeting Santa and Princess Eugenie. The Believe In Magic website and social media accounts were flooded with grateful messages, thanking the amazing mum-and-daughter duo for the selfless work they were doing.
In 2015, Megan and Jean organised the Cinderella Ball at the Natural History Museum in London, and the 300 VIPs were all children with life-limiting conditions. Louis Tomlinson and his late mother Johannah Deakin hosted the dazzling event, and Liam Payne posed with children –some in the middle of chemotherapy –on the red carpet, making their dreams come true. Harry Styles’ mother Anne was also afervent supporter of Believe In Magic, and Harry’s favourite shirt was auctioned at the event. Millions of pounds were raised overall.
That same year, Megan was given an award for her charity work by then-Prime Minister David Cameron, who praised her “extraordinary courage”. So, when Jean posted on Facebook that Megan’s condition had worsened and they needed £120,000 for urgent treatment in the US, people rallied round, donating to the JustGiving account Jean set up. Megan had always helped others, now it was time to help her. They raised the total amount in just 48 hours and set off for America.
MUM SLEUTHS
While most supporters were worried about Megan, amother named Jo Ashcroft was troubled. Her own son had been through cancer at the age of two, and she knew the specifics of the available US treatments, as she’d raised £250,000 to fly him out there. She was bothered by the scant details about Megan’s condition, and by the lack of concrete information being provided on doctors, hospitals and treatments. She messaged Jean several times to pos
