Maia Mouse Foundation is our very special charity in memory of our beautiful daughter, Maia Olivia Baum who lost her battle with a complex life limiting condition at the age of eleven months.

After the devastating news of Maia’s diagnosis, as Maia’s parents we made the decision to make the most of the time we had left with our beautiful girl. People often ask us how we found the strength to get through it, but that was easy as Maia needed us more then, than ever. She only knew love and happiness and we intended to keep it that way so we set out to give her as many opportunities as we could in the time that we had left with her. There was so much that our little girl would never get to do so we started by writing a list of all the things that we really wanted her to experience. Known as the ‘Adventures of Maia Olivia’, some were simple experiences and others took a little more planning. Maia loved every minute and we can honestly say some of these days were the best days of our lives. One of her adventures was to walk part of the Pennine Way, which we did with family members and close friends. It was all exactly what we set out to achieve, our little girl was incredibly happy, experiencing so much in such a short time. We were lucky in the sense that we could make these memories, taking the time away from work to spend time with our beloved Maia but not all families have this opportunity.

We recognise that living with a child with a life limiting condition puts an enormous strain on the family, and as your whole world crumbles everything around you continues, from work, to mortgages and beyond. We want to fundraise and provide financial support, by way of grants, to give families the opportunity to make memories with their children. This is the foundation for our charity, to help create even just one memory for those families suffering just like we did, and if we can do that one thing, the whole thing will be a resounding success. 

Joe & Gemma x