My daughter Mia was diagnosed with Infantile Leukaemia, on13th July 2017 at the age of 7 months. She had just started nursery, meeting new friends and having fun. Within a moment our whole life changed with this news. It felt like a bomb had exploded within our world. Being an infant, Mia had to be treated as an inpatient, so as her parents we spent the next subsequent 8.5 months living at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Ward 15  became our home. Simon and I, took it in turns each night to stay with Mia, nursing her through grueling chemo treatment and procedures. Both of us stripped away from life as we knew it.

This has been the hardest year of my life, the joy of becoming a new mum followed by the devastation of her illness. We have experienced so many highs and lows in Ward 15. Living in hospital is incredibly tough. Mia still has a very long road of maintenance treatment at home but I will never forget the time we spent in Ward 15. I will never forget all the kindness and support the staff showed us. Mia learned to crawl, stand and walk all in hospital. We celebrated Mia's first birthday, Christmas, New Years all in Ward 15. As we approach the 12 months anniversary since Mia's diagnosis, it feels the right time to mark this very difficult, emotional and extremely challenging journey by giving back to the hospital who cared for her. I feel strongly for the care of patients but also the parents who have a huge job nursing their children under such difficult circumstances. Having experienced first hand what it is like to live inside the walls of a hospital, BCH need as many donations to get the best treatments and facilities for the care of families whether they are there for a night or months. 

I will eternally be grateful to BCH for everything they did.

At Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, we believe there’s always more we can do for our sick kids and that’s why we will always strive to do more for our patients and families. It’s our mission to raise the vital funds needed to make a real difference to all who use our hospital.Your support empowers us to take innovative approaches to treating some of the sickest children in the UK. Your fundraising enables us to make our hospital feel just like home. Your donations are helping us to find new ways to treat and cure childhood diseases.