Tuesday 9th April 2024

We help put a smile on the faces of children diagnosed with cancer

We have donated £1,000 to Maddi’s Butterflies, a charity based in Lower Darwen, that aims to create smiles for children with Neuroblastoma and other rare cancers by granting small wishes, trips and gifts

Supporting our communities

Maddi’s Butterflies has collaborated with Young Lives vs Cancer to help put a smile back on the faces of children who are suffering pain and discomfort while receiving cancer treatment at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.

One of the Maddi’s Butterflies’ gifts include Smile Bags, reusable bags filled with toys, games, children’s books, stationery and colouring pens, arts and crafts, fluffy bed socks and sleep masks. Each Smile Bag costs between £150 to £200 to put together. Our £1,000 donation will be enough to cover the cost of up to 10 Smile Bags.

Samantha Allan with smile bagsleeboswellphotographycom 3 1

Maddi’s Story

Maddi’s Butterflies was founded in 2012 in memory of Madison Allan, who passed away from Neuroblastoma on Boxing Day 2011, aged just seven-years-old after battling the disease since she was 10-months-old.

Neuroblastoma is an aggressive childhood cancer of the nervous system which often goes undetected due to its lack of symptoms until a tumour grows large enough to affect vital organs, nerves or pathways. The disease affects 100 children in the UK every year, with 75 of these children being stage four. Neuroblastoma has a high relapse rate, with the only treatment option for this being in America and costing £500,000.