Taylor Swift Makes Dreams Come True for 12-Year-Old Losing Hearing

Yahoo Parenting
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When 12-year-old Jorja Hope learned she was losing her hearing, her first reaction was: “I won’t be able to hear Taylor Swift sing.”

So her twin sister, Chloe, set out on a mission to make sure Jorja not only got to hear Swift perform in person before her progressive, inner-ear disease gets worse — but also meet the singer. Chloe launched the #HelpJorjaMeetTaylorSwiftSydney campaign on Twitter, and it picked up steam when their local Australian newspaper, the Maitland Mercury, and Australia’s Today show, covered her plight.

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And Jorja saw her dreams come true on Saturday night when she finally met Swift at her performance in Sydney. Pictures splashed online of the meeting show Swift hugging a grinning, glowing Jorja, who walked away with a signed poster of the singer.

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(Twitter)

“She was very, very amazing and very pretty,“ Jorja told the Maitland Mercury. "I didn’t expect her to be as tall as she was.” The 12-year-old took the pop star a pair of Ugg boots as a present.

Her mom, Melissa Hope, says her daughter, who currently wears a hearing aid, deserved the special night.

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“Jorja has battled her whole life from being born preemie with growth problems, to surgeries on her ears already and five surgeries for broken bones,” Hope told the Maitland Mercury newspaper of her daughter, who currently wears a hearing aid. (Jorja’s family did not return Yahoo Parenting’s calls; Swift’s publicist declined comment for this story.) “She is a fighter. No matter what happens, she smiles and keeps going.”

Jorja isn’t letting her prognosis slow her down, either. She’s learning sign language so she can still sing Swift’s songs, the newspaper reported.

This isn’t the first time Swift has met with her superfans, often dubbed #Swifties. The singer has surprised fans with home visits and gifts, she once attended another fan’s bridal shower (because she couldn’t make her wedding, which she’d originally been invited to), and she often visits children’s hospitals.

(Photo: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

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