Author: Lorraine

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

We were very impressed recently to hear about he children from Time Out Club at St Bartholomew’s Church, Great Harwood. They held a sponsored car wash and a clean up of Memorial Park. After some discussion they decided they would like to donate the £100 raised to Milly’s Smiles. We went along to their club earlier this week to say a huge thank you, and to show them a Milly Bag so that they could see what their money has paid for.

When our Milly Bags are given out, we don’t expect thanks because we have been in that same position the family now finds themselves, and we understand that their world has suddenly become a very different, uncertain place.  All your strength and energy is going into dealing with what is happening to your child, and so when we received this picture from Lily’s mum thanking us, we were absolutely thrilled.  We send Lily lots of love and strength in her recovery journey 💕

Today marks the two year anniversary of Milly going to heaven, even now 2 years on, as I write the words it doesn’t seem real. Losing a child completely changes you forever, it can destroy you and break you into a thousand pieces, but despite this your heart continues to beat and the world continues to turn. You become an expert at hiding the deep soul searing pain that engulfs you, your child that you brought into this world has gone, not in this lifetime will you ever again hear their laughter, comfort them and smother them in kisses, wave them off to school, college, watch them fall in love, get married and have their own children. They are forever missing from life now and from all the life yet to come. Bereaved parents become experts at learning to cope, whilst trying to make some kind of sense of what has happened.

A family who received one of our first Milly Bags in March 2016, when their daughter was diagnosed with a Wilms tumour have paid tribute to Milly’s Smiles in a wonderful way. Heyside Juniors Under 14’s Football Team have renewed their football kit and have added our logo onto their strip to help raise awareness of our charity. The printing was kindly donated by Trans-Web Ltd, in Oldham, and the kit looks amazing. The team have already played 2 games in their new kit and have won both games – way to go lads! We are always so humbled by peoples kindness and generosity, we never take it for granted, and we thank this lovely family and everyone involved for their amazing support.

During the summer holidays 7 year old Patrick recently used his pocket money to buy goodies for a tombola stall that he had on his fairground.  Patrick charged friends and family 50p to have a go and raised a fantastic £20 for Milly’s Smiles.  We are all blown away by this, and think you are amazing Patrick, thank you so much for thinking of Milly’s charity, and helping us do an incredible job of supporting newly diagnosed families admitted onto Ward 84.

A huge thank you to Dorothy who recently held a garden party for Milly’s Smiles, fortunately the sun shone and helped make the day a great success. The party was really well attended and raised a great amount of £420 for us.  Thank you to everyone who supported the event.