Among a host of unsung heroes at this year's Pride of Britain Awards, one person certainly stood out - and that was the adorable Florrie Bark.
The eight year old star, who is battling leukaemia, was awarded the Child of Courage Award and also became the nation's sweetheart. So much so, after pleas from Strictly Come Dancing star Pete Wicks and Sam Thompson, Dragon's Den star Duncan Bannatyne was one of the first to dig deep into his coffers, as he donated £30,000 to her charity.
Florrie, who is also awaiting a lung transplant said: "It would make me really happy if we could raise £1 million by Christmas! If you have lots of money and you see someone who needs it, why wouldn’t you give it to them?" She added: "This charity will make kids happy because their teacher can be their friend. I think people should donate, because it's really going to help lots of people like me."
And his donation was followed by a number of celebrities. This Morning host Cat Deeley has now donated £500, while social media influencer and YouTube star GK Barry has donated £3,000. This was followed by Love Island star Chloe Burrows, who parted with £500, while actor Michael Sheen donated £200.
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Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)Host Carol Vorderman old Florrie and the audience that £71,000 had already been raised from guests at the annual event, which combined with her £30,000 GoFundMe donations, the total reached a whopping £100,000. On realisation of the kindness of others, Florrie told the Mirror: "Because we’ve raised over £100,000 already, we can get three teachers for our charity. That’s amazing because where I live, they don’t really want to pay for teachers to come and see me, so it makes me happy that other people can [have them].
She added: "I can only have a few minutes at home with them and a few minutes at school. A million pounds would get a lot of teachers, we could really help people. We could make loads of gift baskets for everyone." Florrie was only six years old when she was devastatingly diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in 2022, which left her unable to attend school.
Her mother, Stacey Bark said: "So many children, especially in Florence's position, miss out on an awful lot when they're in hospital. Basic things, like doing a little lesson here and there is a massive part of growing up. This charity will be a community so these kids can make friends and then we can also do and family meet up so that we can build that community."
And her dad Andrew, who used to be a head teacher also said: "Her immune system wasn’t strong enough for her to go back to school. This is the same with lots of children with cancer, and there just isn’t that support there which is why we started the charity. There's a huge social aspect as well with school which is why parents think it is really important."
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