Our Aim
Having walked in parents shoes we understand the worry and uncertainty that comes hand in hand with a cancer diagnosis.
We provide a welcome bag, known as a Milly Bag, to each newly diagnosed family admitted onto Ward 84, at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, Ward 3B at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and Ward L31 at Leeds Children’s Hospital.
Our Milly Bags contain items that will help during the first few days, and weeks, of their hospital stay. Along with this we provide items that will bring a smile to the faces of the children, and let families know that people are thinking about them.
Simply put, if we can, we would like to make parents feel as though they have been given a hug, and that people do understand and care.
“God puts rainbows in the clouds so that each of us – in the dreariest and most
dreaded moments – can see a possibility of hope. If you turn a rainbow upside down it’s like a smile
in all the colors of the spectrum, so the Universe is smiling on you.”
Our Welcome Bags
Our Milly Bags are fantastic quality, inside the Sports Holdall which has multiple functions, is a lovely rainbow fleece blanket, giving the child a touch of home comfort and luxury. There is a neck pillow, which is handmade and can be used by any of the family.
The bag has a thermal cup, which allows parents to make hot drinks to take back onto the ward, as the cup has a secure lid.
A clear juice bottle is included, which enables the nurses to monitor the fluid intake of the child, and also looks funky with the Milly’s Smiles logo!
We have included a soft beanie hat – most children lose their hair with the chemotherapy, and this gives them the chance to wear the hat before their hair has fallen out.
There is a notebook, pen and plastic wallet; as during the initial admission period, families are given so much information. Having somewhere to write notes, and store leaflets, is really useful.
We include a wash bag containing toiletries, including shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes and baby wipes. We have recently added a full, adult sized towel too.
It may seem a long way off, but when families are allowed to go home with their child, an absolutely essential item is a thermometer. These are quite expensive to buy, so we have included them in the bags.
Finally, we provide a cute rainbow knitted elephant – each one lovingly made by our army of Milly’s Smiles knitters!
News & Events
September is a very emotive month for us and today has been a day of mixed emotions. I learnt this morning that a Ward 84 patient has gained their Angel wings….just knowing what those parents are going through and will continue to go through breaks my heart… Our delivery team took 20 more Milly Bags […]
Every first Sunday in November we celebrate Milly’s birthday by holding our annual ‘Walk 5 Miles for Milly’s Smiles’. The walk is always popular, familiar faces turn up every year along with new faces that are keen to support us and get involved. We really look forward to this event, it gives us chance to […]
Today it’s 5 years that I have survived without Milly…. 5 years is a lifetime to be without one of your children, and yet it’s no time at all…. The pain…the loss…her absence from every part of my life is still felt so intensely…it hurts and my heart breaks every single day. Each year without […]