Main content

Inspiring 12-Year-Old Lily's ballet wish comes true

"Ever since I was young, when I started ballet, I’ve always looked up to Scottish Ballet and when I went to visit them it was the best experience ever."

Meet 12-year-old Lily Douglas from Perth in Scotland. A ballet superfan and trophy-toting dancer in her own right.

"When I see Lily dancing", Lily's mum Jane tells a new ´óÏó´«Ã½ documentary, "what goes through my head is... she’s still ok."

Lily began her love affair with dance at the age of two. "She took to it like a duck to water", says Jane.

"It was kind of written in the cards that Lily would always go off and go to ballet school. That’s exactly what she wanted to do so we put an application away for her to become a Scottish Ballet associate."

But the very same day she received her audition letter from the world famous company, Lily found out that a sore shoulder she'd been suffering from was a symptom of cancer. She was diagnosed with stage four , a rare form of bone cancer. She was just nine.

Remembering that day her mum says, "That was tough. It was like somebody stabbing you in the heart. It was awful."

But despite battling this rare cancer over the last couple of years, Lily has not been letting it get in the way of her one true passion in life.

'She's just a miracle'

"It hasn’t stopped her and Lily used to come out of chemo every Friday and go straight to dancing and has done the whole time and we’re now two and a half year down the line and she’s not stopped dancing."

Lily danced on stage side-by-side with Scottish Ballet

"She still goes to her dance class and her doctor just thinks she’s amazing. She says she’s just a miracle."

A family friend nominated Lily for a Scottish Ballet wish.

Five Wishes

2019 has been the company's 50th anniversary, and as part of their celebrations, Scottish Ballet wanted to say thank you to the people of Scotland for 50 years of inspiration.

"Scottish Ballet has been crafted by Scotland - by the people, the culture and the spirit", the company said.

So over the course of 2019 Scottish Ballet has made five wishes come true and they were delighted when in January, Lily became the very first recipient of one of .

"Ever since I was young when I started ballet I’ve always looked up to Scottish Ballet and when I went to visit them it was the best experience ever." says Lily.

"They've done so much with me. They let me go on the stage and do some dancing with them and watching them I just wanted to be like them so much."

"They were so amazing and it was so cool for me to go up performing and show them some of my dancing."

Lily's wish was one of over 400 wishes submitted to the Five Wishes campaign. The general pubic cast over 100,000 votes to find the top 50 wishes.

They were then presented to a celebrity judging panel which included Dame Darcey Bussell, Susan Calman, Fred MacAulay, Janice Forsyth, Christopher Hampson and Principal Dancer Christopher Harrison.

Dame Darcey Busell said of Lily, "We were all inspired by Lily’s story and her love and passion for dance. She really deserved to have this opportunity to dance with Scottish Ballet, and I hope she had the most wonderful day."

Wish 2 was granted to dancers from Academy Street Dance Studio in Aberdeen

Lily's wish

On Saturday 12 January, Lily, aged eleven at the time, had her wish came true when she was surprised by Scottish Ballet Principal dancers who revealed that her dream of dancing with the company, taking a backstage tour, and watching Cinderella would come true.

British dance icon, Dame Darcey Bussell video messaged Lily

Dame Darcey Bussell greeted Lily with a special video message before she was taken on an exclusive backstage tour to the dancers’ dressing rooms and to see the sets, costumes, and props.

On stage, Principal dancer Christopher Harrison, dressed as The Prince, presented Lily with her own custom, bejewelled pointe shoe, before she and her family and friends took to their seats to watch the magical performance of Christopher Hampson’s Cinderella.

As of November 2019, , Lily who is now 12, announced her cancer has stopped growing and she is stable.

You can see how Lily got her wish, and watch the four other heart-warming stories in Five Wishes on ´óÏó´«Ã½ One Scotland on Mon 23rd December at 7pm.

Latest features from ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scotland