Thank you for your interest in Maggie-Mae and her mama’s story. 

The medicine wasn’t ready in time to save my precious daughter but with your help other children can be offered the life saving treatment they deserve, in memory of Maggie-Mae. 

Maggie-Mae has taught us that ordinary people are capable of making extraordinary things happen by joining together for these inspirational children that deserve:

• their first day of school
• growing up with their siblings
• a life outside of hospital
• a lifetime of adventures and special milestones

What better use could there be for your hard earned cash?

Make this happen with me by donating to a hospital where miracles happen everyday. 

Maggie-Mae’s Story

Maggie was born with an aggressive leukaemia (blood cancer). To be born with leukaemia is incredibly rare and, as with all rare cancers, or presentations, skilled doctors have to work incredibly quickly making the best of the limited research they have in creating effective treatment plans. 

Maggie’s doctor at GOSH would often remind us that we were in ‘uncharted waters’ with little Maggie’s treatment, yet they still managed to give her life, albeit too short. 

Maggie-Mae was given her first dose of chemo at just 11 days old. This was a decision doctors were forced into after her little heart stopped as her tiny body was overcome by this cruel and unforgiving disease. You see, chemotherapy can be just as dangerous as the disease itself in such a tiny baby. 

I remember standing by my newborn baby’s cot side in special care as she clung to life. I was begging for a chance to know my baby, to know what colour hair and eyes she was destined to have, to know her personality and to hear her voice. The treatment Maggie-Mae received from GOSH gave me the miracle I was begging for. 

Because of GOSH, Maggie had a chance at life and we made her life as full of love and adventure as we could. 

It seemed our prayers had been answered as Maggie celebrated her first birthday and  was due to be discharged from GOSH as she reached remission. But that cruel, cruel disease came back from nowhere. In days, Maggie went from an active 1 year old to one who was clinging onto life, again, as her body was overcome by the effects of leukaemia.

And just as they did before, Maggie’s doctors at GOSH were there to save her. Her doctors were clinging onto Maggie’s chance at life as tightly as she and her family were. And yet again, they succeeded. Yet again my baby was saved!

It became clear that Maggie-Mae’s only chance of a life free from leukaemia was to have a bone marrow transplant that started when she was just 17 months old. As I write this, it’s 5 years today that this treatment to save Maggie-Mae’s life began. 

I remember, as if it was only yesterday, how hard it was to carry my baby through the hospital door to start the life threatening treatment that was was her only shot at life. 

Maggie’s treatment was all going to plan until 3 days after transplant, with yet another rare presentation, the Leukaemia was back and it was just as aggressive as the two times before. The difference this time though was that little Maggie’s body was not only surviving the effects of the blood cancer but it was also surviving the effects of this aggressive treatment. 

Maggie’s little body didn’t stand a chance. On Thursday 8th March, we were told Maggie-Mae’s leukaemia was untreatable on Friday 9th March little Maggie-Mae died just 3 days short of turning 18 months old. Just like that, she was gone.

My life’s mission

Maggie-Mae taught me so much about the unfaltering strength in love and what a precious gift it is to have life. In Maggie’s memory I am putting these lessons to use in fighting for kinder, more effective treatments for children with cancer. 

With each step of those 26 miles of the London marathon, I’ll be carried by my love for little Maggie-Mae and the hope of things being different for other children facing this cruel  disease. 

Together we can fight it, together we can beat it.