Volunteers are the backbone of any charity and ours are no different.
We are blessed to have some amazing people who help and support us when needed, they do this selflessly and because they want to help us make a difference for children and their families suffering with cancer.
Today, Carrie, Steph and Lucy kindly gave up their day to spend it at Morrisons to raise awareness of our work and to find some elephants their forever home.
They did a truly outstanding job, and I love them for it, thank you so much you amazing people we are so lucky to have your support
Had a fabulous morning with 2 ladies from Harrison Drury Solicitors today to talk about how they can support us over the coming 12 months as their charity of the year.
There are already some fantastic ideas in place to not only raise funds but to also raise awareness of the work we do.
We are really looking forward to a fantastic year with a lovely team!
We have been to Ward 3B at Alder Hey this week to make a delivery of our Milly Bags.
Our bags are provided for every single new admission onto this ward to help families dealing with an unplanned hospital stay during a very frightening and worrying time.
We want families to know we understand their fears and concerns and whilst we cannot take any of this away we can make that initial time on the ward that little bit easier.
Thank you to Graeme and John for great delivery service and to the fabulous Housekeeper Louise for all her help.
We are so grateful to be making a difference every single day.
We are honoured to be the chosen charity for 2024 for @Avidly UK & Canada. Milly’s Smiles were chosen after we supported one of the teams family members following their daughter being diagnosed with cancer, several years ago.
We were thrilled to meet with not only the team but also with mum Sam whose daughter we supported.
It was lovely to be able to speak to the staff about our work and explain what we do, whilst also having Sam there to talk about the impact our Milly Bag makes, not only from a practical perspective but an emotional one too.
We are really excited to be working with everyone at Avidly over the next 12 months. They already have some brilliant ideas not only for fundraising but also more practical ways to support us, like bag packing, volunteering at upcoming events, collecting toiletry items and lots more.
Our monthly support group met last Sunday (21st Jan), for our first get together of the year. We were joined by several new parents alongside Natalie who is the Lead Nurse in Bereavement and Tissue Donation at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals in Preston.
Natalie joined us to get an insight into the work we do and to take the opportunity to speak with families who were with us, in order to gain a greater understanding of our support group and the difference we make.
Natalie told me “the unit is lovely, a bright welcoming environment and I can see how people who make the difficult first step to attend are instantly made at ease by the environment and of course yourself. The idea of the activities works so well. Observing people supporting each other first in the task then developing to the emotional support they needed was an honour to witness first hand”.
Spring Bulbs was the theme for our activities, we decorated pots and planted beautiful hyacinth’s, daffodils and lots more. It was a lovely few hours spent with people who you just know understand you, and as one mum said as she left with her pot, “there was a lot of joy in the room”.
Our next group takes place on Sunday 18th Feburary, please get in touch if you would like to attend – hello@millyssmiles.org.
Spring time is on its way, and with it comes our fabulous Spring Fair!
On Saturday 18th of May you are invited to join us for a day to remember as we join with Great Harwood Rovers FC to bring you a fun-packed day of adventure.
Get ready to be dazzled by the creativity of our local artists, tempted by the scrumptious aromas of food and drinks, and entertained by an array of rides and activities that will keep the young ones spellbound.
But that’s not all! Brace yourself for the ultimate showdown- a charity football match that promises to unite our community and spread love.
Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity to be a part of something great!
If you would like a stall at our event please get in touch soon via email, as spaces are running out – hello@millyssmiles.org.
Sadly children continue to be diagnosed with cancer during Christmas and that’s why we make certain that there is always a Milly Bag waiting for them.
We can never change the diagnosis or the outcome but we can make the start of the journey a little bit easier, and that’s exactly what our Milly Bags do.
Proud and humbled to make a difference every single day.
Huge thank you to Graeme and John for kindly making the delivery, and massive thank you to everyone who continues to support us, we remain forever grateful to you all.
The plan was to create a magical experience for the children and their families and we think we succeeded!
Milly’s Smiles task was to create a Magical Christmas Grotto and bring along some of Santa’s Elf’s to help the day run smoothly!
The elf’s were pretty well behaved although there was a few flying snowballs which almost took off Santa’s hat on a couple of occasions!
The children had a wonderful time which is what it was all about, it was a joy to see their faces as they walked into the grotto and saw Santa and Mrs Claus.
We have to say thank you to some very generous and amazing people who have donated to us:
Milly’s grandad and Janet for the beautiful Christmas tree.
The Senator Group Accrington for Santa’s chair and the children’s chair.
Ewood Florist for the loan of so many amazing decorations.
Mary Bamber for delicious cup cakes.
Maureen for the fabulous knitted snowmen and stockings.
Lorraine 2 for Santa’s chair fleeces.
Annabel for Santa’s personalised cup, tray and milk bottle.
New Bank Garden Centre, Bury for donation of Christmas baubles.
Finally thank you to all the wonderful volunteers today, every single one of them was amazing and it was a pleasure to collaborate with the other charities.
But most of all thank you to the amazing children and their families for being so wonderful and inspiring, we hope you all had a magical day.
On Eddies 4th birthday he wasn’t quite well. Nursery had noted that he was much quieter than usual and was spending a lot of time napping in the book room. We took him to see 4 medical practitioners over the course of 4 weeks who didn’t really know what was going on but suspected it was a back to back virus. I just thought he had picked everything up from nursery, as children do. I never once suspected anything worse.
After 4 weeks, he eventually had bloods done and within 12 hours, we were called by the local hospital and told that Eddie needed to come to the hospital ASAP for more tests. We were transferred to RMCH who have been incredible for the past 3+ years – they’re now part of our extended family. We still hadn’t been fully told that he had leukaemia but we knew that it was most probably this. We were cared for by the most fantastic set of nurses and hospital staff you could ask for.
Eddie has had more medications than any person should have to take during their lifetime and although he has never gotten over having to have the wiggle put in (hickman line), he has overcome many medication battles over the years.
We’ve had some really touch and go moments during treatment where he had a seizure and where a fungal infection practically took over his body, and he’s become close to being admitted to ICU but overall, he’s been relatively well throughout treatment.
Its been tough for Eddie because we welcomed his brother into the family 5 months after diagnosis, immediately followed by lockdown a week later and then losing all his hair so there’s been an awful lot of change and adjustment. He’ s been such a superhero though throughout.
We were given a Milly’s Smiles bag on the first week that we arrived on the ward. I had kept hearing all about the Milly Bags but did not realise how amazing they were until I opened it. I was literally in tears at what was inside it and couldn’t believe we had received something so wonderful at such an awful time.
In February, Eddie rang the End of Treatment Bell and in July he had his port out. Its been a scary step stopping all the chemotherapy, steroids, antibiotics and weekly appointments but we are slowly adjusting to our new normal. Fingers crossed everything continues to be positive!
On Sunday we held our monthly bereavement SOULS group (support, optimism, understanding, love and strength) and the theme was Christmas Wreath making.
Despite us all having experienced the worst loss imaginable, our groups are supportive, fun and filled with people with the most beautiful hearts.
There was an abundance of creative activity today and by the end of the session everyone was thrilled with their wreaths.
We were given brilliant tuition and guidance from the wonderful Debbie at Ewood Florist and it was such a lovely morning with lovely people.
Massive thanks to Debbie for sharing her skills with us and huge thank you to Asda at Accrington for funding the morning.
Finally, thank you to everyone who comes along to the groups, I know how hard it is to put a smile on your face and turn up for the first time, not knowing what to expect, wondering who will be there and what the expectations of you are.
Always know that there are no expectations, that you will always be very welcome and if you can’t quite find your smile that day, we got you.
