Update on Milly 24th July 2012

It has now been 4 months since we ran the ‘Helping Milly Appeal’ and we wanted to say again how grateful we all are to every one who has supported us. Sam and Alex have been overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of all those amazing people who have supported the appeal and also those who have written the most lovely letters and emails of support.

The appeal money is being used very wisely and carefully, and is making a massive difference to the family. Here are some examples of what the money has been used for so far:

The family have taken Milly on wonderful days out including: Lego land; twycross zoo; The London Natural history Museum; Cinema visits; lots of swimming trips, and Milly’s most favorite outing of all - horse riding a little shetland pony. Milly and Max have thoroughly enjoyed their adventures and outings as a family.

The appeal money has also been used to purchase some equipment for Milly to make her life easier as her physical condition requires it.  She gets very tired and some days she is not able to walk very far and now uses a wheel chair so she is able to carry on doing all the things she enjoys.

The Adkins family have managed to move to a lovely house in Woodford to be near their very supportive extended family.  Milly now has her own bedroom (In their previous house Milly shared a bedroom with her little brother Max) so in time to come when it is needed her medical care can be delivered to her at home.  The donations to the appeal have also been used to make Milly’s bedroom really pretty and have purchased for her a double bed so Alex and Sam can snuggle down with her when she needs company and cuddles.

Milly has now been registered severely visually impaired and her poor eyesight does mean that she trips over things that she cannot see.  Again the appeal has funded the garden machinery to make the garden safe so she can enjoy playing outside with Max and her dog Cookie without tripping or hurting herself.

Most importantly, the kindness of everybody who have supported the ‘helping Milly Appeal’ has given the family the priceless gift of being able to spend quality time together and for Sam to go to all the hospital appointments with the family.

Milly is amazing! Anyone who meets her is totally blown away by her bravery and courage.  She still has the ability to hug you so tight that you think your head will pop off ,and she copes so well with her progressing symptoms.  Milly now experiences headaches, nausea and vomiting. Alex and Sam have been advised that these are all symptoms are associated with the growth of the brain tumour but at present most of the symptoms are controlled by medication.

Milly has taught me so much and when I get caught up in my own little world and worry about trivia, I am reminded that there is a very special 9-year-old girl in Woodford who copes with more difficulties on a day-to-day basis than most adults experience in a life time and she never ever complains.

The family will keep you all informed via this email tree if anything changes.

But in the mean time – once again, thank you all so much for your kindness and support. Again we ask that if you see Milly  please be really careful what you say to her or around her as she does not know the situation and we do not want her to be frightened.  Thank you

Love Linda (family Friend)

Saints star Soane Tonga’uiha donates £1,000 to Milly’s appeal

Published by Helen Buckingham in the Northampton Chronicle and Echo on Tuesday 24 April 2012 SAINTS’

 rugby star Soane Tonga’uiha has donated £1,000 to the family of a nine-year-old girl with a life-threatening brain tumour. Milly Adkins, from Daventry, had surgery in Oxford last month aimed at reducing the size of a tumour with which she was diagnosed in 2007, and which had grown so large it posed an immediate threat to her life.

 However the surgery was not successful and, having been told further operations would not provide a cure and would not give Milly a good quality of life, her family has made the difficult decision not to proceed with further interventions.

 But 6ft 3in father-of-four Mr Tonga’uiha – who is nicknamed Tiny by fans – donated £1,000, raised from his testimonial year, to the family at Franklin’s Gardens yesterday, after reading about their story in the Chronicle & Echo.

 He also took Milly and her three-year-old brother, Max, on a tour of the ground, including areas normally closed off to the public, such as the changing rooms, players’ recreation room and gym. He said: “My wife and I saw the story in the paper and a few of the Saints boys mentioned it, either through Twitter or Facebook or in the changing rooms, so we looked at the family’s website to find out a bit more information.

 “It’s obviously a very sad story. It’s something we wouldn’t wish on anyone. We just can’t imagine what Milly’s parents are going through. “It was an easy decision for us to help them out in some way.”

 Milly’s mother Alex said the money would be used to purchase a trailer tent so the family could enjoy short breaks away as respite from Milly’s condition.

 She said: “Tiny’s generosity has been completely overwhelming. We can’t thank him enough. We are so grateful. Donations like this mean so much to us.” Mrs Adkins thanked everyone who had given donations to the family so far.

 She said: “From a mother to anyone out there who has donated or helped or sent messages of support, we can’t thank you enough. “It’s a strange place to be in to ask so publicly, but the response has been overwhelming. It’s helped so much. Thank you.”

 Fund-raisers have pledged to continue to support Milly and her family. The next few months will be hard for them in many ways, and all the money raised will help them cope with Milly’s developing needs, as well as continue to enable them to spend quality time together.

 Anyone who wishes to help the family can call Northampton 585810, email helpingmilly@gmail.com where they can donate to the family.

 The family has asked anyone who meets Milly to be discrete, and to avoid saying anything in her presence about her situation, in case it frightens her.

If you want to find out more about Soane Tonga’uiha's testimonial events please visit https://www.soanetongauiha.com/

Milly is home from hospital

Milly was allowed to come home this morning and Alex and Sam are thrilled to be all together as a family once more.

Milly has to rest and be settled as much as possible, and Alex and Sam have asked if visitors could wait until after the weekend. (Could you ring first)

They again want to thank all their amazing friends who have supported them and also to extend their thanks to Robins Ward at the John Radcliff Hospital in Oxford for looking after Milly so well.

Love Linda

An amazing response to fundraising for Milly an update.

We are thrilled to announce that Luke Dawson's total amount collected from his open mic night on Thursday 8th March raised a fantastic £834.00. Thank you so much to everyone who came along to support him and his friends at the Racehorse.

Today at the Saints during a bucket shake for Milly the kindness of the Saints players, fans and supporters throwing in donations to our buckets raised a staggering £2292.68.

We are overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of the Northampton people in helping this gorgeous little girl at this time. I can assure you that every penny that has been donated will reach the Adkins family, and will make a massive difference to them during this difficult time.

Thank you so much

Love Linda

Milly's operation outcome

Alex and Sam are hugely proud of how Milly has coped with her surgery. Immediately after the operation her Surgeon Jay seemed optimistic that he had managed to remove some of Milly's tumour and the family felt that this was a positive step forward.

Very sadly it transpired on an MRI scan yesterday that in fact the surgeon had not been able to remove the substance of the tumour. What he had removed was purely scar tissue resulting from a previous operation when Milly was 4 and her tumour size (despite the major operation) has remained unchanged.

Alex and Sam are now facing more bewildering decisions as to how to proceed to help Milly. There is an option of more surgery next week, but that is much more dangerous than her initial operation that she had on Wednesday.

Please join me in wishing them all the best love in all the world as they make decisions about Milly’s future.

Alex and Sam wanted to again say to everyone that the encouragement and love they have received from their friends and family are sustaining them and it is this love that is helping them at this really difficult time.

Love Linda

Operation update

Milly has had her operation. It took approximately 8 hours, she is now in the High Dependency Unit in the neuro-surgical ward in Oxford.

Sam and Alex said: A massive thank you to every one who has supported us, it is a really big comfort to us to know that there are so many people that are behind us and care for us. Today has been really hard and we have been frightened all day –this day has been the longest!

It is very early days for Milly, but we have been told that the next 48 hours could be full of big ‘ups and downs’. We will not know for some time how the surgery will impact on Milly’s life until she is truly awake; but we hope with all our hearts that her surgeon, Jay, has managed to make the tumour small enough so that further treatment options could be available to us.

Milly has been so brave today and we are really proud of her.

Love Alex and Sam xx

Milly is much better and her operation is going ahead tomorrow - this is a little news update from Milly herself.

Hello this is Milly here, I have not had my operation yet because I was poorly. but I am better now. I am in in the special house that my mummy and Daddy are staying in by the hospital (home from home house provided by Clik Sargent). I did not get much sleep last night on the ward because the baby was crying and story story was on playing ALL night and my daddy was snoring. Mummy and Linda stayed the here in this house for the parents and they slept well and I do not think that is fair! (she laughed)

I have just eaten crumpets and later we are going to do some baking, some fairy cakes, chocolate ones. I am going to have a little sleep.

Love Milly