Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber has had a lot of "roasts" hurled his way in the past few weeks, but when his special fan Hayley Okines passed away, he took the time to remember her.
Bieber tweeted "RIP Hayley" to his 62.4 million Twitter followers and his fans have been following suit. Some commented that "heaven has gained an angel", while others became curious and asked who Hayley was.
Hayley was a 17-year-old trapped in the body of a 104-year-old because of a rare premature ageing disease called progeria. Doctors said that Hayley would only live up to the age of 13 but the strong-willed teenager pushed her life expectancy to a few more years.
She was a huge fan of Bieber so back in 2010, some girls started a campaign on Twitter to help Hayley meet her idol.
"Justin Bieber's people heard about it and contacted us. We arranged to meet him at a London hotel last December as a surprise for Hayley's birthday," her mother Kerry previously told The Mirror UK. "When she saw him she just screamed and attracting attention from everyone in the hotel!"
The experience was such an uplifting moment in Hayley's life and was not something she could forget. "I remember I came down the stairs and he was just standing there. I was so surprised I just screamed and ran up to him and put my arms around him," she shared.
Bieber asked Hayley if she had a favourite song, but she did not have one. So Bieber asked her what she wanted for Christmas, and the spirited teenager generated a lot of laughter from onlookers when she answered that she wanted Bieber.
The feeling of admiration was mutual. Before meeting Hayley, Bieber shared on his Twitter account (@justinbieber) that he was "about to meet someone very special soon."
