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During the last 18 months, many of you will have been aware of the journey our granddaughter, Tilly, has been on. Diagnosed at the age of 7 in January 2020 with stage 4 cancer of the liver, Tilly spent a year in and out of Birmingham Children's Hospital undergoing intensive chemotherapy before finally finding a donor for a multi organ transplant in August of that year, an operation which has only ever been performed 4 times worldwide for her diagnosis of heptoblastoma. Her journey has been truly inspirational. We, as her 'Grandparents' would like to pay recognition to her and her family's amazing courage and also to recognise our wonderful NHS and the many people who supported them throughout. To complement Tilly's own fundraising efforts, and in homage to 'The Proclaimers', we would like to raise funds for the SPLIT organ transplant charity by tackling our own '500 miles Challenge'; Jackie by running 500 miles and Graham by paddling (kayaking) 500 miles. We would aim to complete this over a year, starting and finishing on August 26th, the anniversary of the date on which Tilly received the donor transplant which saved her life. We would hope to raise some funds but also to bring friends together as it would be great if we could be joined on some of our excursions, or indeed if friends wished to undertake their own 500 miles challenge alongside ours.... It is our small way of trying to recognise and thank the NHS, all the charities who supported Tilly's recovery, and perhaps most importantly, the anonymous donor's family whose selfless action has given our Tilly a future.

The full story of Tilly's journey can be found on her Facebook page, TillyRae Merch and details of her fundraising, at shopwithtilly.com.

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