Westlife treat for Michaela

"ALL my wishes are coming true!" were the words of eight-year-old Michaela McAvoy when she found out she was going to meet Westlife.

The progeria sufferer is a huge fan of the group and was over the moon when the Observer surprised her with a special meeting and concert tickets last week.

Michaela suffers from the aging illness which makes her body age eight times faster than it should.

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The family live as normal a life as possible but Michaela has already reached the age doctors predicted as her life expectancy, making every moment important for achieving Michaela's dreams.

When her mum Lizzie told her the news last Monday, Michaela was ecstatic.

Lizzie said: "She was so excited, she just said "All my wishes are coming true!"."

Lizzie booked a limousine to make the day even more special.

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"It was really big. All my friends stood outside to waved to me when we went." said Michaela.

She then travelled in style with her sister Melissa, 5, her mum and her aunt Alex, to London Arena, where she had a date to meet Westlife at 5pm before watching them perform live.

But Michaela was flocked with her own admirers outside the Arena - a group of Westlife fans from Hastings wanted their picture taken with her.

The star-struck youngster was recognised again inside the Arena, when a woman donated money towards Michaela's trip to the American reunion of Progeria Sufferers in the summer.

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The woman had seen Michaela's campaign on a news programme but did not have the address. Donations from Observer readers made the trip possible for the family, including Michaela's youngest sister, Chloe, 3, and dad Pat Doyle, 31.

An excited three-day countdown to the big moment was over when armed with a single rose for each member of Westlife, Michaela and Lizzie were taken into the Arena.

"When I met them the first thing I said was this is my dream come true." said Michaela.

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