Updated on Aug 27th 2012 at 3:25 PM from the JustGiving API

Just made it to Belford aiming for 5 more miles makes tomorrow shorter

Madi was taken from us too soon she never complained or grumbled despite her trials. Her last year was made even more amazing by the arrival of Odie.

We have attached a photo of the two troublesome boys together and  an email Madi sent to the Dogs for the disabled team to show her gratitude.

 

Hello, I am writing to thank you for the photo album that you sent to us.

Let me introduce myself, my name is Madi and I am 8 years old. I live with my mummy, big sister morgan who is 10 and little brother Evan who is 4.

We first heard about dogs for the disabled when we visited crufts in 2009 and saw a stall there. I was only 6 then, so had to wait to be 7 to apply. Then the waiting list was closed for a long time so mummy used to ring every month to find out when it was opening. I really wanted a dog but mummy said we had to wait for a dog for the disabled so we could take him everywhere with us.

Finally in February 2011 we were invited to an open day and given an application pack. I was excited but knew we would still have a long wait. We made it onto the list in July  and hoped we might have a dog for Christmas. Mummy rang up in September and was told there was no more children's training until 2012. She said maybe I would have a dog in time for my birthday in april.

Then a couple of weeks later mummy got a phone call from Louise telling her about Odie. Mummy was so excited she cried when she got the call and she was watching my sister at swimming!

When Odie came to visit I was so excited I was shaking! He licked me all over and I fell in love. The wait for him to come and live with us seemed so long I wouldn't let anyone talk about it and told mummy not to tell me which day she was picking him up but to surprise me. I was walking home from school with my grandpa and I saw mummy and Odie walking towards us. I was so excited.

Odie is the best thing that has happened to our family, I love him because he gives me soggy kisses and is always there to help me. He sleeps on my bed every night and gives me kisses and takes my socks off when I come in from school.

Thank you so much for his puppy photos and for all the work you have put in to turn him into the wonderful, gentle, friendly, well behaved dog he is. I promise we will look after him very well.

Madi Small

Madi always wanted to help others and really wanted to help another person get a dog to help them. Our aim is to raise £5000 this is the figure to secure and train a Dog for the Disabled. Please dig deep to help us to make Madi's wish come true 

Please read below Grandpa's reading from Madi's funeral

Memories of Madi

 

Madi is the most amazing person I have ever known:-

 

You’re amazing …....Just the way you are!

 

Achingly beautiful, her hugely expressive eyes, capable of displaying every emotion, her unending smile, so cheeky, so joyful, so friendly, the soft press of her warm, gentle hand on your fingers for reassurance or as she drifted into sleep.

 

She possessed an inner beauty she is, so caring and considerate, always polite and blessed with a wonderful imagination, she used to weave complex adventures, composing dialogue for her never-ending stories; always about boys and usually involving school

 

On our recent holiday we played a bingo-style animal recognition game, but too slowly. Madi the quiz master intervened “come on Grandpa get a move on!”

I occasionally reminisced  about what school was like when I was 9, to be reminded “Grandpa times move on!”, wit and wisdom beyond her years. 

 

Madi was liberated by her motorised wheelchair and ventilator, she had so much more energy and her school attendance soared to over 90%, her favourite saying became “lets go outside and run around”

I can see her now racing across the playground at St James, her legs dancing from side to side. She loved playtime games with her friends, outdoor P.E. and Samba.

She was now able to engage with people in shops and restaurants, and firmly insist

 “I can do it myself”

 

At Madis birthday party in April, her vent tube popped off, whilst she was assisting the entertainer, undeterred she cheerfully danced in front of here amused classmates waving the tube about, was it a hair-dryer or a microphone, for -Madi the Pop Star!!

 

Madi was so excited when Odie her assistance dog arrived from Dogs for the Disabled, she loved him so and he returned her affection! He followed Madi everywhere, he took off her socks, passed things to her, opened doors and slept at the end of her bed or more often on the bed! There is a lovely picture of Madi in bed resting her legs on Odie, a look of calm and contentment on both their faces. Odie’s presence was always so reassuring to Madi, she was happy for you to leave the room as long as he was there. 

 

Madi touched the lives of so many people and each made their own contribution, anyone who met her was charmed by her and wanted to do their best for her. 

 

 

Madi loved playing with Morgan and Evan, they were good friends as well as sister and brother, putting on a show or cooking with Morgan, or X-box and Lego with Evan!

 

Madi and her Mummy were a fantastic team, they achieved everything together, there were no limits in Madis life, Catherine made sure of that! 

Madi travelled, explored, went to shows and concerts (including a magical experience at a Glee concert), sports events and all forms of activities she lived a full and varied  life, surrounded by love..

 

Madis success in living her life to the full was crystallised by the reaction of her cousin to our loss, “how can it have happened, Madi wasn’t poorly”, and she wasn’t! Madi is a bright and charming , active 9 year old tomboy schoolgirl who enriched the lives of all who met her.

 

I know she is somewhere now, wearing her shorts, smiling her cheeky grin, running about, playing or paddling in the sea.

 

The Amazing Madi who will always be in our hearts

 

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Little Angels

 

 

When God calls little children to dwell with Him above,

We mortals sometimes question the wisdom of His love.

For no heartache compares with the death of one small child

Who does so much to make our world, seem wonderful and mild

Perhaps God tires of calling the aged to his fold,

So he picks a rosebud, before it can grow old.

 

God knows how much we need them, and so He takes but a few

To make the land of Heaven more beautiful to view.

Believing this is difficult, still somehow we must try,

The saddest word mankind knows will always be “Goodbye”.

So when a little child departs, we who are left behind

Must realise God loves children, Angels are hard to find.