Paris First Birthday – Amilia Turns One!

Amelia Kolpa, an eight-year-old girl who touched hearts worldwide with her quest to receive a record-breaking number of birthday cards while battling cancer, has died, her family announced on Tuesday. She passed away at 17:00 GMT, according to a social media post from her mother, Katarzyna Bartczak.

Amelia, from Rowley Regis in the Black Country, had been receiving palliative care and had been in and out of hospital since she was two and a half years old. Her original ambition was to receive 8,000 birthday cards, but an outpouring of support from across the globe resulted in more than 300,000 cards, surpassing a UK record. Messages arrived from countries including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

“Our dearest Amelia, you were and always will be our greatest miracle,” Bartczak wrote. “For nearly 6 years, she fought with a strength beyond imagination. Every single day, she showed us what true courage looks like.”

Amelia was diagnosed with neuroblastoma and had been on a waiting list for a clinical trial. Alongside her card collection goal, she also pursued a bucket list, which included creating teddy bears for each member of her family, embedding voice messages within them – a goal she successfully completed.

In February, hundreds of motorcyclists participated in delivering the amassed cards to Amelia for her birthday. Matthew Lemm, who assisted in organizing the card collection, visited Amelia shortly before her death. “Obviously nobody wanted her to pass away, but we all knew it was inevitable and we all knew the pain that little girl was in,” Lemm said, adding that knowing Amelia had “glued together” his “broken heart.”

Bartczak stated, “She is no longer suffering. She is no longer in pain. She is in a place where everything is beautiful, peaceful, and full of light.”