Author: Lorraine

Ward 86 at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital received their first delivery of the new year at the start of this week.

David and Vicky delivered 20 Milly’s Bags to the ward, taking the total number of bags delivered to 960 Bags over the last 7 years.

We aim to ensure that each of the wards we support have a constant supply of Milly Bags, which means we often respond to requests for delivery at only a few days notice.

To be able to deliver at short notice means having Milly Bags constantly packed and ready to go, which is a huge credit to our volunteer bag packers who regularly come and bag pack for us. We are fortunate that our unit has enough storage to be able to accommodate around 100 completed Milly Bags.

We are also extremely lucky in having delivery drivers who will aim to deliver at a moments notice.

Having a brilliant team ensures the constant smooth running of Milly’s Smiles, and because of this we can continue making a difference to newly diagnosed families every single day.

Prior to Christmas, Thorneyholme RC Primary School in Clitheroe carried out a range of fundraising activites for Milly’s Smiles.

The school were aware of Milly and her charity as their Headteacher Mrs Jackson was Milly’s year 6 teacher during the first few weeks that Milly was in School.

Mrs Jackson ensured that Milly still felt part of the class, despite being in hospital for long periods, she organised the children to send letters and cards to Milly, the class made numerous items to remind her that she was thought about and included in the class.

The impact of this cannot be underestimated, and it made Milly smile and feel part of the school and connected with all her class mates despite being very poorly.

Last week Mrs Jackson brought several pupils from Thorneyholme Primary to visit Milly’s Smiles. The pupils were part of their School Parliament and made up from years 1 to 6.

It was an absolute pleasure to be able to show them around our unit and explain all about the Milly Bags that help children and their families when they have been admitted into hospital.

A huge thank you to everyone from the school for supporting Milly’s Smiles and a heartfelt thank you to Mrs Jackson for remembering Milly – as her mum that is a wonderful gift.

Our first delivery of the year went out today.

Our van was loaded this morning ready for David and Vicky to kindly head over to Ward L31 at Leeds Childrens Hospital to take a further 20 Milly Bags.

On arrival they received some lovely feedback from families who have received a Milly Bag …

“Having these items really made a difference on a practical level and also from a comfort point of view. Made us all smile”

If we can put a smile on families whilst providing some comfort during one of the most frightening times of their lives we feel very privileged indeed.

To date we have supported 230 families at Leeds over the last few years which is a total of £32,200.00. So every penny that is donated to us really does make all the difference!

Throughout 2022 we were lucky enough to have been the chosen charity of Briggs & Forrester Living, Warrington.

Over the course of 12 months they held many events to raise money for Milly’s Smiles. On their 10th Birthday they held a raffle with some fabulous prizes, they held a bake off competition, a darts tournament, 2 curry days and a tombola.

All together they have raised a wonderful £1,118.00 which is amazing for us, and so very much appreciated.

We thank everyone involved for all their hard work and effort that has gone into supporting Milly’s Smiles. Every penny will truly make a difference to us and to the families we support.

Dear Mr. Hallmark,

I am writing to you from heaven, and though it must appear

A rather strange idea… I see everything from here.

I just popped in to visit your stores to find a card

A card of love for my mother, as this day for her is hard.

There must be some mistake I thoughtt… every card you could imagine

Except I could not find a card from a child who lives in heaven.

She is still a mother too, no matter where I reside

I had to leave, she understands, but oh the tears she’s cried.

I thought that if I wrote you, that you would come to know

That though I live in heaven now, I still love my mother so.

She talks with me, and dreams with me; we still share laughter too,

Memories are our way of speaking now, would you see what you could do?

My mother carries me in her heart, her tears she hides from sight.

She writes poems to honor me, sometimes far into the night.

She plants flowers in my garden, there my living memory dwells

She writes to other grieving parents, trying to ease their pain as well.

So you see Mr. Hallmark, though I no longer live on earth

I must find a way, to remind her of her wondrous worth

She needs to be honored, and remembered too

Just as the children of earth will do.

Thank you Mr. Hallmark, I know you’ll do your best

I have done all I can do; to you I’ll leave the rest.

Find a way to tell her, how much she means to me

Until I can do it for myself, when she joins me in eternity.

Wonderfully written by Jody Seilheimer

A big fear of mine is that people will start to forget to remember Milly, the years will pass and she will just slip their minds.

Milly’s 19th birthday and the 8th annual walk for her proved to me that people still hold her in their hearts and are happy to come and join us for a walk to remember her with us.

Huge thank you to everyone who joined us, it was so lovely to see you all again, and it was lovely to see new faces there too.

We had over 140 people walking with us, they braved the rain, which fortunately stopped we set off.

We had wonderful support from the police cadets they were exemplary, and did an amazing job as always.

The food was wonderful and there wasn’t a crumb left by the end of the event.

A special thank you has to go to my lovely work friend, Claire, who made an array of cupcakes and a birthday cake for Milly, these were a massive hit with everyone, and tasted delicious!

The food and refreshments were kindly sponsored by Fielding & Porter Solicitors, one of our charity partners for the year. A huge thank you to them for their wonderful support throughout the year, they have made such a differnce to us throughout the year.

12 months ago, Kerry the lovely community champion from Tesco, Great Harwood, got in touch with us to ask about setting up a book swap stand in the store.

Kerry wanted to run the book stand in store and ask for donations to Milly’s Smiles.

The book swap has been a massive success, with people regulary bringing books to swap and making very generous donations as well.

In the 12 months the stand has been running the store has raised over £6,000! Far more than any of us ever expected.

A huge thank you to Kerry for having the dedication to run the stand week on week, and for choosing Milly’s Smiles to support. The money has been amazing for us, and we are so grateful for every penny we receive.

A huge thank you also goes to all the customers who donate books and money, because of you we can support 42 newly diagnosed families which is just amazing!

We made a delivery to RMCH on the 23 November and took a further 20 Milly Bags for Ward 86. Graeme and John kindly made the journey over to the hospital for us and successfully delivered all our bags.

They also took a special treat for the nurses and the parents in the form of 2 Christmas hampers courtesy of Fieldings Porter Solicitors.

As always we thank everyone involved in supporting us and allowing us to make a difference to newly diagnosed families every day.

A huge thank you also to Fielding Porter Solicitors who are one of our charity partners for this year. Their support has been wonderful and I am sure the nurses and parents will enjoy the treats in their hampers!

Getting messages from families who have received a Milly Bag is extremely heart-warming and makes all our hard work so worthwhile.

At the time when parents receive a bag their world has just been turned upside down with emotions and feelings running wild.

To receive a message of thanks at this time means everything.

Today we received this lovely message and photo that we wanted to share…

“Thank you so much for the amazing bag and goodies .

Nellie-Jae was diagnosed with leukaemia three weeks ago and she has taken a real shine to the rainbow fleece blanket, it comes with us everywhere she goes .

We are so grateful. Thankyou x

We are continually grateful and humbled to be able to make a difference to children newly diagosed with a cancer related illness every day.