Author: Lorraine

On the 30th May 2017, Jayne, Stuart and their daughter Jessica were sent by ambulance to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital after an appointment with their local doctor.  They arrived at Manchester just with the clothes they were wearing, but straight away they were given a Milly Bag, which helped their daughter Jessica greatly.  She cuddled the hand knitted elephant and cuddled under her blanket.  Without some of the basic items in the bags, items which most people take for granted, their initial few days would have been even more unbearable.  Jayne says ‘we can never replay Milly’s Smiles for their generosity, but we can make a really good effort.  To do this we have signed up to clime The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach on the 18th May at 6pm.  Some people are simply doing this for the fun of it (crazy people) but we are doing it to support one of the most generous charities we know of.  Unfortunately Milly’s Smiles is a charity that will always be needed as new patients will continue to be admitted onto Ward 84.  Knowing we will be helping Milly’s Smiles to provide their ongoing help to newly diagnosed families will make every metre climbed worth it.’

Jayne and Stuart were amazing and successfully climbed to the top of the Big One, supported by their beautiful daughter Jessica who is doing really well with treatment, and family and friends .  We were also honoured to be there to, and are so grateful for their kindness in supporting our charity.  Huge respect to you guys and massive well done on a great achievement.

A local Ukulele group have raised an amazing £872.64 for Milly’s Smiles, by holding raffles and other fundraising events.  We were invited to collect the cheque from the Ribble Valley Strummers this week, where we were treated to some excellent ukulele playing and singing, before being presented with a cheque.  Thank you to everyone who has supported us and donated, we are always so very grateful for every penny we receive, and it allows us to continue making a difference to families from all over the North West of England.

Last week Milly’s Smiles moved into new premises – we now have a dedicated office where all the items for our Milly Bags are stored safely and securely. Previously we have been keeping things over three different locations and the logistics of managing this became very difficult. We took the decision to take on some premises to allow us to have everything under one roof and easily accessible so that we can have bags ready made and good to go at a moments notice. We are based in Great Harwood and if anyone would like to call in and say hello we would love to see you 🌈. We are always so mindful that without everyone’s support and generosity we would not be able to do what we do and ultimately make a difference to families when they need us. Thank you each and everyone who supports us 💕🌈🎗

We were contacted by Jayne, who received a Milly Bag from us, when they were admitted onto Ward 84 last year.  This is what Jayne had to say:

We have been lucky enough to have 40 bracelets made especially for Milly’s Smiles By Erin Gift Shop – Darwen.  During the Christmas Period the shop ran a competition to find a local Lancashire based charity or fundraising group.  The charity with the most votes would win 75 By Erin Wish Bracelets, with a design chosen by them.  We were so lucky to be nominated many times and although we didn’t win, as runner up By Erin donated 40 personalised bracelets for us.  We absolutely love them, and we are selling them at £2.99 each. If you would like one (and they are selling very fast) please either contact us via our facebook page or email at hello@millyssmiles.org.  A huge thank you to By Erin Gift Shop and also to everyone who voted for us 🌈🎗😘

Our 3rd Annual Walk was a huge success.  The weather was immensely kind to use, the sun shone for the whole day, although it was a little on the chilly side!  We were over-whelmed to see so many people, we had over 150 people supporting us, some faces were new to us and others had been walking with us for the last 3 years.  People turned up from as far away as Penrith, Ulverston and North & South Manchester.  We had families from Ward 84 who had been going through treatment at the same time as Milly, and we also had a family who were amongst the first to receive one of our Milly Bags back in March 2016.  Lovely to see that all those children are now doing so well.  Not only were we thrilled to see so many people turn up, they also brought cakes – very delicious cakes that were geared towards Milly’s logo, definitely some very talented bakers amongst us.  The walk was officially started off by PC Dave Render, who gave a great speech, which was very brief and to the point. PC Dave said, he had thought about what Milly would have wanted him to say and came to the conclusion that actually she would not have wanted a fuss, or even a speech, so he kept it very short and sweet, and we thought it was perfect!  After the walk (which was a teeny bit more than 5 miles) we returned to the Plough where potatoe-pie was offered, followed by cakes.  All the walkers received a sticker and a rainbow pom-pom keyring, which were generously knitted and donated by Michelle and Mandy (our lovely elephant ladies!).  Throughout the afternoon, donations were being given to us from everyone and to date we have raised £974.11, although money continues to come in.  The final total will be announced as soon as we have it. Huge thank you to everyone who took the time and trouble to support us, and thank you to everyone who has donated money.  We will hopefully see you again next year. xxx

We have received some great pictures from families who have received a Milly Bag from us, we love seeing the bag and contents being put to use …

A charity bowling competition was held at Dugdale Memorial Bowling Club in Blackburn in memory of a young gentleman who passed away at the age of 46 in 2016.  Andrew was a keen runner and had completed 6 marathons, including 2 London Marathons, he was also a weekly player at the bowling club along with both his parents.  The day was sponsored by Andrew’s parents Bob and Jackie and they wanted to donate the money to Milly’s Smiles as Andrew was a big supporter of our charity, and was often out running in our Milly’s Smiles T-shirt.  We are so proud to accept the money raised in Andrew’s Memory, which was £520 and thank everyone who supported the event on the day.  A huge thank you to Bob and Jackie and we send them lots of love and strength.

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Courageous young man, Jack, aged 3 years was recently diagnosed with kidney cancer and is currently undergoing a course of intensive treatment.  Jack has had surgery to remove a tumour, several courses of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and in total, Jack will have 34 weeks of chemotherapy to get him back to full health, his final chemotherapy will be in March 2018.

Despite all of  this, Jack is still very active and happy and is obsessed with dinosaurs and motorbikes.

Jack attends Riverside Nursery in Darwen and when the nursery approached Jacks parent to ask about raising money they immediately suggested Milly’s Smiles as they said we ‘have been a great support to them after Jack’s diagnosis’.

Since then the nursery have had a busy month raising money and on 22 October 2017, staff from the nursery braved the awful weather and walked 11.5 miles from Lower Darwen to Bucksaw Nursery in Chorley.  We think they are all truly amazing, and thank everyone involved for supporting us.

last round