Kind-hearted girl sends her family surprise Christmas gifts from the grave

Chelmsford, England: A kind-hearted girl who lost her brave battle with cancer has given her family some Christmas cheer - by sending them surprise gifts from the grave.

Tragic Lily-Mae McKinstry died in November from a rare a brain tumour after months of putting up a brave fight.

The loss of their beloved 10-year-old hit parents Andrew and Vicki hard, but the couple were stunned when they began to receive mysterious Christmas presents through the post from their late daughter.

The family, from Chelmsford in Essex, later discovered that Lily had sneakily brought Christmas presents for her entire family just weeks before her death.

Mum Vicki, 42, a hairdresser said: "When Lily passed away last month both me, Andrew and her big brother Ethan, were all left completely devastated.

"Our whole world came crashing down, we were making plans and expected Lily to be around for Christmas.

"After she died we were sorting out her things and were so shocked when we saw Andrew's credit card details in her notebook - but when we chased it up the penny dropped.

"Our beautiful, special girl had brought us all surprise Christmas presents.

"Now every few days we are receiving packages in the post, it's really emotional when we open them but it's also so comforting. Lily was so thoughtful and organised, I know how happy this would've made her.”

Dad Andrew, 48, said: "So far we have received bandanas in all of our favourite colours - Ethan loves wearing them, so she knew he'd appreciate the gift.

"She's also sent a chicken costume for Ethan which was a funny surprise and completely shows her sense of humour, and also some books.

"A really special gift was a Build-A-Bear teddy bear which we were going to bury with Lily, but after her big brother saw it he wanted to keep it to remind him of her.

"We could never be mad at Lily for paying for our presents on my credit card, she was so clever and it's amazing seeing what gifts she wanted to get us.

"We even found thank you cards addressed to everyone she cared for. We don't know what gifts we'll receive or when, but every single one is a really special present from Lily.”

Little Lily adored Christmas, and the family say the surprise gifts are helping them cope with the heartbreak of losing Lily.

Vicki said: "It's helping us get through Christmas without her, it makes it feel like she's still with us in some way.

"Lily just loved this time of year - she still believed in Santa Claus, and we couldn't wait to spend this Christmas with her as we though it would be her last one.

"The presents are made even more special because we know how excited Lily would have been to give them to us. We get so excited whenever we see the postman, as we just can't wait to see what he'll deliver next.”

Fun loving, confident, Lily was leading a very active and healthy life before she was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) – an extremely rare and terminal brain tumour - in May this year.

Vicki and Andrew are now in the process of completing Lily's bucket list to honour their late daughter.

Some of her wishes were really mature for her age - number one was to have world peace and number two to have better access for disabled people in the underground system.

Vicki said: "It's really important that we carry out Lily's wishes after everything she's been through.”