Johnny Depp appears as Jack Sparrow in touching video message for terminally-ill child
15 December 2022, 18:44 | Updated: 15 December 2022, 23:46
Johnny Depp has reprised the role from Pirates of the Caribbean to grant the wish of a terminally boy who wanted to speak to his idol, Captain Jack.
Kori, 11, has undergone two unsuccessful heart transplants but decided that he didn't want to face the ordeal of another.
Kori and his family don't know how long he has to live.
One his last wishes was to speak with Captain Jack, and Johnny Depp, who plays the eccentric pirate in the blockbuster franchise, got onboard.
Captain Jack Sparrow sent me a message!
Kori, from Ripley, Derbyshire, recently starting a successful YouTube channel called Kraken the Box, which already has already amassed 175,000 subscribers.
Mr Depp is among them, and dusted off his pirate outfit to record a message for the youngster, saying: "I wish you the best of luck.
"I am your number one fan, Captain Kori.
"All the respect and love mate."
Mr Depp said he would also be encouraging his friends to follow Kori's channel.
And he's not the only A-lister following Kori's channel, fellow Hollywood star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is also a subscriber.
Kori's mum Pixi said the 'amazing' message, which was arranged through the Make A Wish charity, had lifted his spirits at a devastating time for them.
She said that surgeons gave her son, who was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a new heart in 2018, but the organ was rejected by his body.
Kori underwent a second transplant in January 2021, but after a painful and traumatic procedure, again the heart was rejected.
Now, after discussing it with his parents and medical team, Kori has decided not to go through with another.
"He has always stated if he ever needed another transplant, it is something he would never go through again so the second they told me the news, I knew this was only ever going to go one way," Pixi said.
"There is no cure now.
"The first transplant wasn't easy but it went quite well. The second one was extremely traumatic for him.
"It was extremely painful and drawn-out and he had to learn to walk and talk [again].
"He said he would much rather pass away than have to go through anything like that ever, ever again.
"It wasn't just his decision, it was with the medical team as well, and it wasn't taken lightly, but he has had a big part in this decision and he understands what is going to happen."
Kori's decision has meant that he's now in palliative care and his family don't know how long he'll live, and are preparing for what they expect to be his final Christmas.
Pixi said: "Every meal we make him, we don't know if it will be his last. Every time we tuck him up in bed it could be the last time.
"It's devastating. I've sobbed, I have prayed, I got angry thinking what was the point of Kori going through all of this just to pass away.
"He is very positive and we are making the most of the time we have left."
