Also making news tonight, a 10-year-old girl is fighting for her life in an induced coma after the horror car crash that killed her 16-year-old sister on the way to the Taylor Swift concert at the >> February 15th, 2024. [music] 6:00 p.m. 16-year-old Mika Poker sat in the front passenger seat, earbuds in, iPad glowing on her lap.

 She’d spent hours perfecting it, a Taylor Swift playlist for the 17-hour drive. every song in order, every era represented. In the back, her little sister Freya, just 10 years old, was making friendship bracelets. One said, “Fearless.” Another said, “Lover, she’d made enough for both Melbourne shows. Their mom, [music] Kim, drove through the Australian evening, 9 hours into their journey.

Eight more hours to Melbourne, [music] to the era’s tour, to the dream they’d fought for. 8 hours. That’s how long Ma had sat refreshing ticket master screens last year. Watching that Q number drop, praying for [music] just two tickets. When they finally appeared, she’d screamed so loud their cat bolted across the room. Mr. Perfectly Fine.

That’s what she’d named him after Taylor’s song. They had [music] tickets to four shows total. Melbourne, then Sydney. Mika had planned everything. Outfits for each era, signs painted at 2:00 a.m. Every lyric memorized down to the ad lips. “This is our road trip of a lifetime,” her godmother Carly had said before they left. At 6:00 p.m.

on Dunny Road near Balamore, a semi-tra crossed into their lane. The impact was instant. Mika died in the front seat, the iPad still glowing beside her. Taylor’s voice still playing in her earbuds. Freya in the back survived [music] barely. Brain injuries, broken leg, shattered pelvis. A helicopter rushed her to Westme Hospital in Sydney where doctors placed her in an induced coma.

Kim walked away with minor injuries physically. That next night, [music] February 16th, 96,000 fans filled the Melbourne cricket ground. Taylor performed under lights and confetti. People sang Every Word to Love Story. They cried happy tears during all too well. For seats in the stadium stayed empty.

 In the pediatric ICU 600 km away, nurses did something extraordinary. They placed a speaker beside Freya’s hospital bed and played 1989 on repeat [music] hour after hour. Day after day, research shows coma patients can hear. The nurses hoped Taylor’s voice might reach her, might bring her back. News of the crash spread through the Swifty community like wildfire. Carly created a GoFundMe.

Within days, strangers donated $37,000. By March, nearly $90,000. Taylor’s team was informed before the second Melbourne show. According to multiple sources, Taylor was devastated. Some fans at the show said she seemed different. During Marjorie, the song about losing someone during Bigger than the whole sky, about someone gone too soon, she paused longer than usual.

No one knows [music] for certain if she was thinking of Ma, but the Swifties knew. Back at Freya’s school on the Gold Coast, something beautiful happened. The principal changed the school bell. Now, [music] instead of a standard ring, Taylor Swift plays between classes everyday. A reminder of Mika, a tribute to sisterhood. Weeks passed.

Kim stayed at Ronald Macdonald House in Sydney, sleeping in chairs, holding Freya’s hand, playing Taylor, waiting. [music] Then in March, small miracles began to appear. Freya’s left arm moved. >> 10-year-old Taylor Swift fan Freya Pokeria showing positive signs as her family comes to grips with the death of her sister.

When they wheeled her outside, she seemed to feel the wind on her face. The doctors called them promising signs, but she hadn’t opened her eyes, hadn’t spoken, hadn’t asked the question her mother dreaded most. Where’s Mika? At home in Gold Coast, Mr. Perfectly Fine, the cat Mika, named after Taylor’s song, sleeps on her bed every night, waiting for a girl who will never come home.

 The friendship bracelets Freya made sit in a drawer, never worn. The concert outfits hang in a closet. And on Mika’s iPad, the one recovered from the crash, her last act on this earth, remains frozen in time. A Taylor Swift playlist. Hours of work. Every song chosen with love created for a concert she would never see.

For a dream that died 17 hours away from coming true. Mika Poker was 16 years old. She was vivacious, cheeky, had a sparkle in her eye, made pottery, [music] friendship bracelets, and playlists. She loved her little sister, she loved her mom, and she loved Taylor Swift with every piece of her heart. Some dreams don’t get to come true.

But somewhere in those 96,000 fans who sang along in Melbourne, everyone who heard Mika’s story held their loved ones a little tighter on the drive home. Rest in peace, Mika. You were a swifty until the very last song. As of January 2026, Freya’s current condition remains private. Our hearts remain with the Poker Lichfield family.

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