A mum who has faced numerous tragedies is now making her parents wishes come true.
Mandi Fisher, from Leasowe, has been through many heartbreaks during her lifetime. At 18-years-old she gave birth to her first daughter Scarlett Rose who was sadly stillborn .
Her mum, Pauline Gibbons, died from terminal cancer when Mandi was 24-years-old and Mandi's dad, Philip Gibbons, died from covid just before the first lockdown. Two months after her dad's death, the now 31-year-old also lost another close family member.
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Mandi said one thing which has helped with her grief is singing and writing music and promised her parents she would never give up on her music. The mum-of-three released a song on March 18 in memory of her mum who died in 2016 aged 65 and is now climbing the official iTunes charts.
The song, Hey Mum (Did You Get Your Wings), is currently number two in the UK official iTunes charts. Mandi said she wanted to share her song and story to help share with others "that no matter how much heartache you endure from grief you can make special things happen in their memory."
Speaking about the loss of her firstborn daughter, she said: "My daughter was my firstborn and was sadly stillborn at 39 weeks. I was always doing my music and I have been doing it since I was about eight-years-old, I have always done it.
"When I lost her, I took a little bit of break and I didn't know if I could face music again. But I learned to use it in a way to help me heal and express a way of how I was feeling. Since then I think it is one of the things which has got me through so much."
Mandi said when her mum died it was "extremely hard" and the family was told she would only live for nine months. However, Pauline proved the doctors wrong and died 16 months after her diagnosis of inoperable oesophageal cancer.
Pauline also managed to see her daughter get married after revealing her biggest wish was to see her daughter marry in the big white wedding she never had.
Speaking to the ECHO, Mandi said: "She managed to see me get married and I sang down the aisle because she was obviously a big fan of my music. She got to see that and sadly she died on December 21, 2016."
Mandi said her dad was also her biggest supporter of her music and it has been especially difficult for her knowing he has not been able to see her success. Philip was in hospital for three weeks with covid and Mandi sang to him everyday.
She added that "music was his life" and she knows he would be "so proud right now".
The 31-year-old said: "I think that is what is making me so emotional because it was so hard to get the recognition of my music to this point and it makes me so sad he is not here but I like to think it is his energy which is helping me and he was my number one fan.
"I think after my mum died, music was always his life and his dad was a singer, but after my mum died what kept him going for so long was the music. He lived my kids and my music.
"He got covid in 2020 before the first lockdown and I had to care for him."
Mandi also said she struggled with weight gain as she grieved for her family, but has since turned her life around. She said she hopes this inspires others to know "you can heal, you can get better and you can make your life happy again after so much heartache".
She said: "I thought I was dealing with my grief well but on the outside it was showing. I was gaining weight, I was over 20 stone and gaining weight rapidly – I was eating my emotions. But I have learned to turn it into eating healthier and people are watching my journey online now.
"I am quite open with my life, so I will talk about grief. My music is all based on real, raw emotions, real topics and people are just watching it all now."
Mandi has lost nearly three stone in 10 weeks and said she uses her music "to heal now". The 31-year-old's song is just behind Miley Cyrus' Flowers in the chart and was only released on March 18. She hopes it can take the top spot.
Her children have also been supporting their mum, replaying the song to get streams.
Mandi added: "Last night I could hear every song in every room in different room. It was just the cutest thing and they were sending it out to all thier friends and they have gone into school saying 'we need to get mum past Miley'."
You can download Hey Mum (Did You Get Your Wings) here. You can also watch the video of Mandi's song here and follow her on TikTok here.
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