THE family of an 'inspirational' York girl who died have been left devastated after a tree planted to celebrate her life has been destroyed by thugs.
As previously reported by The Press, Millie Wright, of Poppleton, York, passed away in August 2021, aged just 13. She had been suffering from an underlying auto-immune health condition, and fell ill in March that year.
Before her death, Millie - described by her family as 'inspirational and courageous' - was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia, a complication of acute hepatitis and acute liver failure.
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Her dad, Nigel, said a neighbour knocked on their door this morning (June 21) to tell them that the tree, planted on the village green in Upper Poppleton had been severely damaged.
"It's left the community here stunned to be quite honest. That someone could go and do this is just outrageous," he said.
"It coincides with some of the school exams finishing and there were a lot of teenagers down here last night.
"The tree was specially selected as it was one of only two 13-year-old red chestnuts in the country at the time and DTail Plants in York specifically helped us to source a tree a tree the same age as Millie which we hoped we would see grow, giving us a place to sit and remember Millie for years to come.
"It was the same age as Millie when she died and we planted it on May 7 last year so it was well established and a real focal point.
"We want to speak to whoever did this. We hope that someone in the group has a conscience and will contact us or North Yorkshire Police directly, anonymously if required, with a name.
"Until you have lost a child or sibling you cannot begin to understand the impact of this mindless act.
"The village green has CCTV coverage so we are hopeful that we will be able to find out who did this."
As The Press reported at the time, Millie’s family have set up a charity in her honour, called The Millie Wright Children’s Charity, to help families in a similar situation.
The charity launched the same day the tree was planted, on what would have been Millie's 14th birthday.
The charity's mission is to make life a little easier for the families of children diagnosed with rare and life threatening non-malignant liver, renal and haematological conditions being treated at Leeds Children’s Hospital, specifically Ward L50 where Millie was treated.
The charity exists to bring about equal hands-on charitable support for families caring for children with life threatening conditions and is based at Leeds Children's Hospital.
Further details on the charity can be found on the website at: www.millieschildrenscharity.org
The police are investigating the vandalism and a spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said: "This morning we received a report of damage to a memorial tree on The Green in Upper Poppleton overnight.
"This callous act of vandalism will understandably have caused considerable upset, and we are urging anyone with information about what has happened to contact us.
"Please call North Yorkshire Police on 101, quoting reference number NYP-21062023-0104."
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