Author: Lorraine

In Spring 2016 money raised from Milly’s Celebration of Life, along with donations received at Milly’s Smiles First Annual Walk were donated to Ronald McDonald House, to fund a room for families for 3 years. Ronald McDonald House had been a lifesaver for us, it gave us somewhere to stay, instead of having to travel to and from the hospital each day. The whole set up is fantastic, and something that as Milly’s family we wanted to support.

As Milly got closer to discharge after her transplant she was allowed over to McDonald House, and we spent a lot of hours playing games both inside and outside in the fresh air, these now are obviously very precious memories for us.

The room we sponsored was initially called The Library, it was a room we had stayed in many times, so to sponsor a room that Milly was familiar with, was very special. You are allowed to name the rooms, and we decided to call our room Milly’s Castle.

When Milly was isolated on the Bone Marrow Unit for 2 months, we decorated her room and her window and called it Milly’s Castle – so the name for McDonald House is very apt. Milly is pictured here standing outside her room and you can see the decorated window in the background, we think she would love the name.

So this year our sponsorship expires, however Milly’s Smiles want to continue to sponsor the room, we know only too well how much it is needed, and its another way that Milly lives on and helps other families. So we have sponsored the room for another 3 years and this means such a lot to us as it will do to families whose child is admitted into hospital and need somewhere to stay.

What is also very special is that the room opposite Milly’s Castle is sponsored by the family of a friend of Milly’s who was having his transplant at the same time, and he was in the room next door. We love this and I am sure they will both be happy that their rooms are together.

We have been lucky enough to be the charity of the year for a few organisations in 2018.  We were approached by TSB Bank, Rawtenstall who chose us after staff were asked to nominate charities. we have been supported by 5 branches of the Bank, who have fundraised tirelessly for us over 2018, Haslingden, Todmorden, Rawtenstall, Bastwell and Nelson.  To date they have raised £4633.08 – and amazingly have said they will support us for a further 12 months. TSB Bank, thank you so much we are so very grateful  to you all for taking us into your hearts and chosing us as your chosen charity for another year.

Last year we were chosen as the Charity of the Year 2018 for Arval UK (Ltd) in Salford.  Over the last 12 months staff have generously raised funds for Milly’s Smiles through a variety of ways including a Onesie Wednesday, unfortunately there was no photographic evidence of this available!

We were invited back to Arval earlier this month to collect a cheque, and were overwhelmed to see that £2540.00 has been raised, this will fund just over 18 Milly Bags.

Thank you to each and every person who has played a part in raising this fantastic amount, this allows us to continue our work in helping all families that are newly diagnosed and admitted to a children’s hospital in the North West of England.

After struggling for many years with health problems resulting in being overweight, Amanda made the decision to change her lifestyle, to get fit and to start enjoying life again. She started on The Couch 2 5K, going from being unable to run upstairs to training for a half marathon.  Amanda also joined the gym and took up a white collar boxing challenge which involved 2 hours training 5 times a week.  Amanda completely changed her eating habits, which, combined with all the exercise meant she was starting to feel more healthy, and taking part in many sporting events including, the East Lancs Hospice 10K, Mudder Maniacs, and Total Warrier.

Amanda ran the  Manchester Half Marathon on Sunday 14^th October 2018 and raised an amazing amount of money for Milly’s Smiles, in total £370 has been raised.

A huge thank you to Amanda for her support and massive well done on all her amazing achievements, we all think she is amazing.

Sunday 4th November was our 4th annual walk for Milly, the weather had been pretty poor days before, and we were more than a little concerned that we could be rained off.  However just like all the other walks the weather was more than kind to us, it was cold but the sun shone for us.  We had a fantastic turnout with lots of familiar faces returning to support us year after year, there were also new faces, in particular we had some new families from Ward 84, and we are always so honoured that they make the journey to support Milly and her charity.

The Royal were amazing hosts, Neil couldn’t do enough for us, he donated all the food and the venue and even provided fireworks for the ones who lasted till dark!

Thank you so much to each and everyone of you who came, walked, and supported us. Seeing you all there on that morning to remember Milly, was overwhelming and something that is not taken for granted.

On the day we raised a total of  £545.53 on the day, which is tremendous.

Same time next year?!

We would like to say a huge thank you to Diane & Kevin and their family and friends for all the kind donations made to Milly’s Smiles, when they recently renewed their wedding vows.

Diane heard about Milly’s Smiles when she met Milly’s dad recently, and after hearing all about Milly and how her charity helps families from all over the North West of England, when children are diagnosed with a cancer related illness, decided to ask for donations to Milly’s Smiles.

We thank every one who donated for their kind generosity, and send our Congratulations to Diane and Kevin, and wish you many more years of happiness 🙂

After months of planning, today Milly’s Smiles proudly delivered 15 Milly Bags to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.  The bags are to be given to new patients and families being admitted onto their oncology ward, after their child has been diagnosed with a cancer related illness.

We are both thrilled and humbled to be allowed to help make the journey of newly diagnosed children that little bit easier, and we know from all the amazing feed-back that we receive from our families on Ward 84 how invaluable these Milly Bags are.

It also warms our heart here at Milly’s Smiles to know that Milly’s name, her story and her legacy is continuing and reaching even more people.

Thank you to everyone who continues to support us, it allows us to continue to do what we do.

We were honoured to be asked by a group of young people if they could support Milly’s Smiles by raising some money for us this summer.  The students were on a 4 week NCS programme which brings together young people from different backgrounds and helps them develop greater confidence, self-awareness and responsibility. It encourages personal and social development by working on skills like leadership, teamwork and communication.

Participants develop a social action project to deal with a local issue they’re passionate about, and spend 30 hours putting the project into action in their community.  We were thrilled that Group 4 chose Milly’s Smiles to support.  To raise money they held a Penalty Shoot Out Challenge in Blackburn Town Centre on a busy Tuesday afternoon, and even managed to persuade Rover the dog to come along too. They also baked cakes which they sold, along with raffle tickets for a signed Rovers shirt.  With all their hard work they raised a fabulous £326.07, however they have to do something with the money for the charity and so the group decided to buy toiletries and put together packs to go into our Milly Bags.  We absolutely love this at Milly’s Smiles, the packs are amazing and are now in the next batch of bags ready to go to Ward 84.   Thank you to the whole team who worked so enthusiastically for us, it was a pleasure to meet you all.

We were lucky enough to attend the Annual Ward 84 party at Victoria Baths, Manchester recently.  The party is organised by parents of Ward 84 children.  Words cannot really do justice to how amazing this day is, not only for the children but for their parents and siblings.  It gives them the chance to be ‘normal’ kids again, to laugh, sing, dance and forget all about chemotherapy, injections, infusions and thumb pricks.  People come together from all walks of life offering their talents and services for free, ensuring everyone has an amazing time.  This year was no exception, it was truly heartwarming to see all these children smiling, hearing their laughter and looking at their faces, money cannot put a price on that.  No-one is forgotten at the party, there is a dedicated room for all the Ward 84 Angels, this room is truly beautiful and heartbreaking, every year more children’s pictures are placed in this room.  Milly is in this room, she never made it to the ward 84 party as she was having further chemotherapy in preparation for a second bone marrow transplant.  If you ever needed a reason to be happy and thankful for all you have, you just need to see these amazing children, they are truly life’s heroes.