Turkish Airlines brings ‘Little Lizzy’ to Istanbul

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

AA photo

Turkey’s flagship carrier, Turkish Airlines, has brought a five-year-old American girl who will gradually go blind and deaf due to a rare genetic disease to Istanbul as part of her family’s “visual bucket list” of experiences they wanted her to have before she loses her sight.

Elizabeth “Lizzy” Myers and her parents arrived in Istanbul with support from Turkish Airlines. The carrier had offered the Myers family free plane tickets anywhere in the world after hearing the little girl’s story.

The family had first decided to travel to Rome, where Lizzy met Pope Francis at the Vatican on April 6. The Pope blessed the little girl’s eyes.

“We have visited Hagia Sophia and Sultanahmet. It is a very crowded and beautiful city. It was an unforgettable memory for my daughter,” Lizzy’s father, Steve Myers, said of their visit to Istanbul.

The Myers family later departed on a Turkish Airlines flight to Chicago on April 10.

Lizzy was diagnosed with Usher syndrome Type II, which causes loss of hearing and sight, an illness that she is unaware she has.