Maddi's YouTube videos help her express feelings about her illness

Maddi Mckenzie loves sharing her Youtube videos with the world. Pictured in December at her early Christmas party. Photo/ Jacqui Porter-Thomas

Plastic dragon figurines of every colour sit on different shelves all around Maddi McKenzie's Papamoa bedroom.

Green, purple, blue and her favourite one, a black limited edition she scooped up for a bargain on Trade Me.

Larger dragon soft toys are piled in a bottom shelf next to her bed.

Video games are neatly stacked to the right-hand side and a dream catcher gently moves above.

Everything has its place. Including her bearded dragon, Ziggy Stardust, who sits in his terrarium in the corner.

Ziggy was Maddi's Make a Wish choice last year, he is shedding his skin at the moment and will be fully grown soon.

Maddi is perched on her bed, surrounded by a fluffy pink duvet and mountains of pillows.

She's playing on her iPad, creating, listening and editing.

The 11-year-old is fighting a rare form of cancer called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, which is a tumour on the brain stem.

The last time the Bay of Plenty Times visited the Papamoa family was when Maddi was surprised by her early Christmas party.

The time she has left is uncertain but Maddi makes the most of every day and loves making videos for her YouTube channel.

Although she is losing the mobility of her legs and her speech, she still regularly uploads new videos which help her express how she is feeling about her illness.

Maddi has a following of more than 1000 subscribers, but she wants many more.

Her mum, Anita Barnett, says seeing more subscribers to her channel "really gives her the whole world in her little room".

Maddi runs her YouTube channel herself, from the initial idea and the song choice right through to the editing and uploading.

She uses an online game, Animal Jam, as the basis of every video and makes her own captions and overlays music to go with them.

She has made more than 30 videos in the last three months, some of which carry themes far beyond her 11 years.

Lyrics to videos include "This is my fight song", "I know I'm not alone" and "Praying" all showing how Maddi is feeling through her journey.

Maddi says she loves music. Her favourite artist?

"Kesha," she whispers softly as her bright blue eyes widen.

"Maddi would love to see Kesha in concert," Barnett says.

Maddi nods as she continues to tinker with her latest video.

Scrolling through her channel there are comments from all over the world including the Netherlands and Scotland.

"Every day she is inspiring people from her bed," Barnett says.

Maddi's videos
Maddi would like to get as many followers for her YouTube channel. To subscribe type in "Snowey2576 the aj wolf" to YouTube.