Brave six-year-old inspires playwright

Published on 01/10/2009 10:00

A SIX-YEAR-OLD girl with brain tumours has inspired a playwright to base a character on her in an upcoming charity concert.

Becky Miller, from Addiewell, in West Lothian was diagnosed with having four brain tumours when she was aged just 21 months.

When diagnosed, the tumours were actually bigger than her brain and sat on top of the optic nerves behind her eyes, leaving her with just ten per cent eyesight in one eye.

Two tumours have been removed but two remain and doctors told Becky's heartbroken parents Glen Miller, 25, and Claire Thomson, 25, the longest she will survive is ten years. That was six years ago. Becky, who will be seven on Christmas Eve, also knows she will eventually lose her eyesight but still manages to smile from ear to ear and infect those around her with her positivity.

This is what stole the heart of Beryl Beattie, the arts reviewer for the News' sister paper, the Herald & Post, who met Becky while working as a "greeter" in Livingston's Asda store.

When she wrote her new play, Supermarket Saga, Becky's inspired outlook moved her to pen a character based on the plucky youngster, who attends Addiewell Primary School.

Beryl said: "The way she deals with her condition and her sparkling personality makes my heart melt.

"She really embodies what the human spirit is truly about and it is a joy just to know her. There is a line in the play which says something about it being her spirit which keeps everyone going and this is so true."

Becky's grandmother Molly Miller, 49, says she is a "star", whether she is on the stage or off it.

Supermarket Saga will feature at the Howden Park Centre on Tuesday, 27 October at 7:30pm as part of a major fashion show, which Becky will also take part in.