Mum abandons crowdfunding page for Disney World trip after being "traumatised" by abuse

A mum who scrapped a crowdfunding appeal for a family trip to Disney World after only raising £10 says she has been “traumatised” by the abuse she received.

Nikki Smith was criticised online after setting up a GoFundMe page with a target of £5,000 so she could take her two daughters, aged 10 and 12, to the attraction in Florida.

The 33-year-old said she was inspired by a friend who raised enough money for her own family trip on the site, but received a barrage of angry responses.

In the original post, she wrote: “I have been blessed with the most amazing, kind, loving and caring daughters, they are my best friends and my life. “They watch a lot of YouTube videos where children are surprised by their parents with a holiday to Disneyworld and I know I would never be able to get them there on my own.”

She added the family had lost “two very special people” in the last two years. However, internet users reacted angrily, suggesting the mum should “pay for her own holidays”. One man wrote: “Honest to God some people have the cheek for anything.

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“What is it with people feeling that they are entitled to get everything put on a plate for them?” Now, Smith, who took down the appeal after the criticism, has put the page back up — with the target reduced to £10 — to defend herself.

“After the worst two days and the twisted story the newspapers told about me, I was prompted to put my page back up,” she wrote. “I feel this to be the only way I can speak out. [I] am not a bad person and I’m not asking for any money. “I love my children and my job,” she said. “I’m a carer and I haven’t been able to get anymore hours at work, nights are not easy to come by. I do try. The press have made me out to be a awful person when I was only thinking of my children and making them happy. “I have never used GoFundMe before so I should have looked into it more. I have used the JustGiving website and I completed race for life last year, in memory of my much loved close relatives. “I thought this section of the website was for funding hopes, dreams and wishes, I looked in the category and a lot were doing similar things. “Also I know people who have funded their own holidays this way. I never meant to upset anyone. I’m traumatised by the abuse and negativity I have received and only put this back up because a lot of people said I should.”