Mieka Pokarier was travelling from the Gold Coast with her mother,Kim Litchfield,and 10-year-old sister,Freya,when their vehicle and a semi-trailer collided about 30 kilometres north-east of Dubbo in NSW on Thursday.
Mieka Pokarier died on her way to see Taylor Swift.Supplied
Freya remained in intensive care on Sunday at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead in Sydney following the crash. She was in an induced coma with swelling on her brain and organ damage,as well as a broken leg and a suspected shoulder fracture.
The family was travelling to Melbourne as part of an 11-day road trip,with the focal point of the holiday to have been seeing Swift perform.
Mieka’s godmother,Karleigh Fox,said the 16-year-old was “vivacious and very cheeky”,would make pottery and friendship bracelets for her loved ones and had a close relationship with her siblings.
“She just had this sparkle in her eye. And it sounds really cliched,but she was just a really beautiful person who was very thoughtful,” she said.
“When they heard Taylor Swift was touring,it was all that[Mieka and Freya] could talk about. They had five family members online,refreshing pages for up to eight hours to get tickets.
“I saw her the day before she left,and she was super-excited,and excited to see her friends … she’s been singing along to Taylor Swift for 10 years.”
Fox,Litchfield (who received minor injuries in the crash),Freya’s father and her older sister rushed to Sydney to be by Freya’s bedside in hospital.
Speaking on behalf of the family,Fox thanked those who had donated to support Freya,and asked for any kind words to be left on a GoFundMe fundraising page rather than sent to the family’s personal social media pages.
The crash scene near Dubbo.Nine News
“It’s just the worst situation you can imagine. It’s frightening to think how quickly your entire life can change and how trivial everything else seems now,” Fox said.
The GoFundMe page set up to help the family had raised $37,080 by Sunday afternoon.
“I’m speechless[about the public’s support],” Fox said. “It’s phenomenal. There’s a lot of beauty in this world,which is nice to counteract the tragedy.”
Fox said the care Freya was receiving at Westmead Hospital was exceptional,and urged people to consider donating blood and plasma,as the 10-year-old had received eight units of blood which had saved her life.
Swift played the first of her Eras Tour shows at the MCG on Friday in front of a crowd of more than 96,000.
The megastar will perform in Melbourne on Sunday night,before the first Sydney show next Friday.
Last Friday,Swift donated $US100,000 ($153,000) to the family of Lisa Lopez-Galvan,the victim of a mass shooting that occurred during the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade on Wednesday in Kansas City,Missouri. Swift’s boyfriend is Chiefs star Travis Kelce.
Before her first Melbourne concert,Foodbank Victoria announced she had made a surprise donation to the charity.
A teenage girl has died in a crash while driving from the Gold Coast to Melbourne to see Taylor Swift's concert.
