Category: News

Back in November 2021, Tesco Great Harwood set up a charity bookshelf, and we were thrilled when they chose Milly’s Smiles as the charity they wanted to support.

Each week Kerry gave us the donations, yesterday the weekly donations took the total amount raised to just over £10,000!

A huge thank to Kerry, Community Champion who works tirelessly to make sure the books are neat and tidy and that there is a regular supply of books for people.

To the generous people of Great Harwood and beyond, thank you a million times over for supporting and donating books and money each week.

On a personal note I used to shop regularly in Tesco with Milly, seeing her beautiful smiling face on our banner when I am at the checkout and knowing the support we are receiving for her charity, really does warm my heart, so much more than I could ever say.

Thank you Tesco, Kerry and everyone supports the book swop, you are helping us to support families and children who have been newly diagnosed with cancer.

If anyone has any unwanted books please consider taking them to Tesco, it really does make a difference.

No one would choose to become part of this world ever, it’s the loneliest place you could wish to find yourself.

Since losing Milly, I have met some of the kindest most generous people….

People who have cried alongside me, people who have held my hand and said ‘I’ve got you’ and people who have said nothing but have always been there for me.

Please, always talk about the children who are no longer here with us, you can give no greater honour than to mention their name….

Death ends a life, not a relationship.. a parent’s love doesn’t end simply because a child leaves this earth….. the relationship is not over as long as a bereaved parent’s heart beats….

We love this picture of Benjamin with his rainbow blanket and a great smile.

His mum got in touch to tell us how much they appreciate their Milly Bag, it is taken to every hospital appointment just in case Benjamin has to be unexpectedly readmitted.

The rainbow blanket and the heat pack are Ben’s favourite items, the heat pack is used often to help with stomach pains.

Sending all our love and strength to Benjamin and family with his ongoing treatment plan.

We had 2 lovely visitors to our unit last week, when Megan and Harris turned up to donate a huge collection of toiletries.

Megan’s daughter Ephie was recently admitted onto Ward 86 at The Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital after being diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma.

The family were so impressed with their Milly Bag that Megan wanted to offer some support back to Milly’s Smiles, so she arranged to collect toiletries from family and friends.

It was so lovely to meet them both and the toiletries have arrived at the perfect time, as we are getting ready to arrange our next round of deliveries.

Thank you Megan and everyone who donated, this means so much to us.

We send our love and strength to Ephie who continues to do well with her ongoing treatment.

In May, Carl Morris ran the Rob Burrows Leeds Marathon for Milly’s Smiles – he did a marvellous job and raised a wonderful £1260.00

Carl called into the unit where I was able to persuade him to pose for a photo!

Congratulations Carl on a great run and a huge thank you for supporting Milly Smiles.

We love hearing about unusual challenges that people take on to support Milly’s Smiles. One such challenge is The Race To The Stones – this is a 100km (87 mile) race which conquers the oldest path in Britain. The race follows in the footsteps of Romans, Vikings and mythical warriors in their quest to reach the ancient stone circle at Avebury and has become the UK’s favourite ultramarathon.

Ed Newbon took on this challenge and chose Milly’s Smiles to support, after his friends daughter received one of our Milly Bags.

At the start of the race Ed was all smiles however this was before the arrival of torrential rain, thunder and lightning, mud, showers, cold, wind and then sunburn all on the same day! Unfortunately Ed found himself in the medical tent at the 72km point, however it didn’t take long before he was back up and running. The last 4 hours of his run was in pitch darkness until Ed finally arrived at the Stones at 2.30am after running for a total of 19 and a half hours – what an achievement!

It was too dark at that time to actually see the stones so Ed wend back the next day to see them in the daylight.

To have someone undertake a challenge such as this for us is just so humbling, we never underestimate the amount of hard work, dedication and commitment it takes just to get to the start line. This is one incredible achievement, and we are in awe of Ed.

Thank you so much and thank you for raising such a wonderful amount of money for Milly’s Smiles too. Ed has raised an incredible £566 which will make a massive difference to us, and allow us to continue to support families and children facing a new diagnosis of cancer.

When I created Milly’s Smiles just a few months after losing Milly, I never imagined how the charity would look 7 years later.

Milly’s Smiles began as a small organisation which successfully became a registered charity, initially supporting Ward 84 (now 86) at The Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. Our first Milly Bags were delivered in March 2016.

Fast forward 7 years and we now support 3 major children’s hospitals across the North of England, and have donated 1,415 Milly Bags at a cost of £198,100.

There is a lot to consider when taking on a new hospital, we look at the size of the ward and in particular their admission rates. We need to be sure that once we commit to giving our support, we are able to continue with this for the long term.

We have been speaking with Ward E39 at Nottingham Children’s Hospital over the last few weeks, they love what we do and the support our Milly Bags give to families, and they were very keen for us to offer the same support to their newly diagnosed families.

Today was a very proud day for Milly’s Smiles as we took our very first delivery of Milly Bags to Ward E39. It was lovely to meet all the team, who were so welcoming and very appreciative of our support.

Being able to give donate Milly Bags to hospitals is only possible because of all the wonderful support we receive from people, together we really do make a difference every single day.

Last night we attended our first awards ceremoney ever. It was the Hyndburn Business Awards 2023, where local businesses are recognised for their hard work and achievments.

We were finalists in the Not For Profit category and were up against some amazing charities who do wonderful work.

We were totally shocked when our name was called out as winners for 2023!

This is such an honour for us to have our hard work recognised – I am sure Milly will be beaming with pride.

I was so very proud to accept this on behalf my beautiful daughter who I miss every single day.