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Events News

Happy Healthy 2020!

Despite 2020 being a difficult year for fundraising we have been overwhelmed with the amount of support received over the Christmas Period.
We are so grateful for all your kindness and generosity.
Donations have been received from local companies, donations have been made in lieu of people sending Christmas gifts and cards, people have donated anonymously and people have simply put money into our bank account.
Kindness is everywhere despite the difficult times we are all experiencing, and that truly warms my heart.
We apologise if we haven’t contacted anyone directly to pass on our gratitude but often in cases where money is donated via Virgin Money Giving or Just Giving, people can get missed.
Please do know that we are always humbled and thankful for your kindness.
We wish you all a healthy, happy 2021 and thank you for believing in us and continuing to support Milly’s Smiles.
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Events News

Paul takes on the challenge of Pendle Hill – 250 times!

Over the course of 2021 Paul is taking on a personal challenge of climbing to the summit of Pendle Hill 250 times in order to raise much needed funds for us at Milly’s Smiles.
Paul plans to take on the hill up 3 times a week doing at least 2 laps per visit.
He has already got off to a great start even with all the snow and ice we have had recently.
We are so grateful for his support, we have been hit hard over the last year with a reduction in fundraising and there appears to be no respite anytime soon.
Any support means the world to us and allows us to continue making a difference to families every day.  A massive thank you to Paul, we look forward to seeing the updates as he progresses with his challenge.

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News

Christmas arrives at Ward 84!

Earlier this week are volunteers have been making up Christmas Gift Bags for all the children on Ward 84, each bag contains a beautiful Harrods Christmas penguin and a bag of chocolate treats from LouLou’s Meringues.  They also made up bags of chocolate treats for the wonderful staff on Ward 84, Bone Marrow Transplant Unit and Ward 84 Day Case.
We combined our Christmas delivery with taking over a further 20 Milly Bags.  We are grateful that even during the pandemic our Milly Bags are seen as essential for the families and we have been allowed to continue to support newly diagnosed families throughout this difficult time.
Our fabulous volunteers David and Vicky made to journey over to Manchester, the Christmas Gifts will need to be quarantined for a few days before they can be given out to all the children.
We send all our love and best wishes for Christmas, being in hospital anytime is hard but Christmas is especially difficult and if we can put a smile on children’s faces, even for a little while, it makes us smile too.
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News

‘I couldn’t believe we had received something so wonderful’

At the start of this year I was contacted by Ward 84 mum Steph whose little boy Eddie was diagnosed with ALL in November 2019. Steph told me that she had hear about our Milly Bag, but not realised how amazing it was until she opened it.
Steph says ‘I was literally in tears at what was inside it, I couldn’t believe we had received something so wonderful at such an awful time’. ‘From the bottom of my heart, thank you for the bag and all the amazing things it contains; I’m sure you already know how valuable they are.’
Since then Steph has been raising money for Milly’s Smiles in various ways, over £200 was raised at her baby shower, and following several head shaves and hair cuts a further £400 was raised, which is brilliant and makes such a difference to us.
Eddie is currently doing amazing and coping well with his treatment which is fabulous news.
Support like this means the world to us, thank you Steph and everyone who has donated, we send all our love to you all.
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News

18 Milly Bags arrive at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital

Milly Bags at Alder Hey

Our delivery team David and Vicky left our unit yesterday with Milly Bags for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.  They give their time so generously and nothing is too much trouble for them, we feel very blessed to have them on our team.
18 bags were handed over to Julie ready to be given out to newly diagnosed families when they arrive on Ward 3B, which is the children’s oncology ward.
One thing that we like to ensure is that the wards are never without a Milly Bag, the whole purpose of our bags is to ensure that they are given at the point of admission, because in most cases parents have arrived totally unprepared for a long hospital stay.
We are often told that families love our Milly Bags and are so appreciated.  We are very thankful that we can make sa difference at such a difficult time, however we would give anything for them not to be needed.
We are grateful that we are able to continue doing what we do, and as always our thanks go to each and every person who supports us.  You are all amazing.
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News

8 year old James raises money for Milly’s Smiles

On September 8th of this year, 8 year old James underwent surgery at Leeds Children’s Hospital, to remove a brain tumour after being diagnosed with Medulloblastoma.

Grandma Cath contacted us to thank us for his Milly Bag and to say that James loves his blanket and takes it to St James Hospital everyday when he goes for his radiotherapy.

James and his family have been undertaking some fundraising for us with fantastic results! Already they have raised £1450 and they are still going strong…

As James began to lose his hair from the chemotherapy, he decided he wanted it shaving off, he was not alone, almost all the males in the family joined him in shaving off their hair – or their beards if they had no hair!

Massive well done everyone, especially James, who is now known as Baldi Basics! It was James who wanted to support Milly’s Smiles and for that we thank you James. We also think you are rocking the bald look!

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News

Walking 5 Miles for Milly’s Smiles

Milly’s Smiles 6th Annual Walk

This years walk was somewhat different from previous years.  We were unable to hold the walk safely this year due to COVID restrictions, however that did not stop us and many more people from walking for Milly.

The weather was pretty wet at times, umbrellas and wellington boots were a definite must for the day.  Whilst the rain came down pretty much the whole of the time, some very lucky walkers were blessed with a rainbow, which as always warms my heart.

People walked from all areas of the country, from Scotland, Cumbria, Wales, Yorkshire and they all did it for Milly.

The photos we received are amazing, everyone is smiling despite the weather, and the scenery is stunning.  A huge thank you to everyone that took time out to walk for Milly and to support Milly’s Smiles.

We missed seeing you all in person this year but loved seeing all the pictures, and really hope to see you all next year – save the date, its a big one next year!

 

Image may contain: 2 people, people standing, outdoor and nature

 

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Happy 17th Birthday Milly

Friday 6th November was Milly’s birthday, her 6th birthday spent in Heaven…

Happy Heavenly 17th Birthday my beautiful Milly, I miss you more and more each and every day:

I miss waking up and seeing you dressed, ready for school…

I miss you in the car singing along to the radio pretending you know the words…

I miss brushing and plaiting your hair…

I miss sitting at the table eating tea and finding you have pinched my slippers…

I miss you trying to put your hands round my neck because you know I don’t like it…

I miss seeing you skip out of school…

I miss your hugs, I miss your kisses (oh how I miss them)…

I miss watching your swimming lessons…

I miss washing and ironing your clothes…

I miss seeing your face at your bedroom window waiting for me to get home from work…

I miss tucking you up in bed, I miss you asking me to say a good dream spell to stop you having nightmares…

I miss your laugh, your infectious giggle…

I miss your beautiful face, your spellbinding smile…

I miss life with you…

I miss the life we were meant to have…

The “what-ifs” are so strong everyday. I wonder what your interests would be. I wonder if you would have any new passions. I wonder what your plans would be for your birthday and who you would choose to spend it with. I wonder how much more beautiful you would be, if that would even be possible.

Have a lovely birthday in heaven with the angels and always know that..

“I will carry you,
Here and there,
There and here,
Until I am where you are.”

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News

September – Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

September is a very emotive month for us and today has been a day of mixed emotions.
I learnt this morning that a Ward 84 patient has gained their Angel wings….just knowing what those parents are going through and will continue to go through breaks my heart…
Our delivery team took 20 more Milly Bags to Ward 84 this morning and Stuart was kind enough to send us a photo of the bags arriving….Often we take bags at a moments notice as we never want the ward to be without bags. For a family to arrive and there be no bags would be awful for us and the families and so we will always deliver our bags at a moments notice.
The last bag given out went to this handsome young man Hughie – this was our 500th Bag given out and Hughie and his family are happy to share this photo with us – which is a huge deal considering what they are facing.
Today we are thinking about the newly bereaved family of Ward 84 and also the family who are just starting out on their journey – we send so much love their way.
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News

5 Years

Today it’s 5 years that I have survived without Milly…. 5 years is a lifetime to be without one of your children, and yet it’s no time at all….
The pain…the loss…her absence from every part of my life is still felt so intensely…it hurts and my heart breaks every single day.
Each year without Milly has brought different challenges…. up until this year I have always known where Milly was meant to be, I often would think she should be at school now, or she should be getting off the bus with her friends, for the last 5 years I’ve been able to place her where she should have been and imagine what she would have been doing.
But it’s different this year…. I don’t known where she would be now or what she would be doing …she may have chosen college or 6th form or even an apprenticeship…this year it’s hard in so many new and different ways…and I know that is never going to change as the years continue to pass by.
Milly will always be missing from me and I will always be wondering….
But she will always be part of everything I do, I made a promise to myself when I knew that Milly would never get the chance to grow up, I promised that no one would forget her, that she would be remembered and thought about with love.
And MilIy is very much remembered, not only by those who know and love her but also by families that we have helped along the way with Milly’s Smiles.
I know families take time to read about Milly, and I hope they gain a little insight into the person she was, Milly was filled with love, fun and laughter, she brought a smile to everyone who was lucky enough to know her.
Milly’s love will always surround me, my love for Milly, and her love for me will never be stolen by death. It is infinite as it is powerful, it stretches past forever and remains with me for always.
I feel honoured and blessed to be Milly’s mum, I had 11 and a half years with her…it wasn’t and never will be enough…she is forever loved and endlessly missed.
“I love her with the utmost love of which my soul is capable, and she was taken from me. Yet in the agony of my spirit in surrendering such a treasure, I feel a thousand times richer than if I had never possessed it”.         William Wordsworth