Cancer Patient Mila Sneddon, 5, Wants Prince Louis To Join Her Scoot For September Fundraising Campaign
A five-year-old who unfortunately suffers from a rare form of blood cancer and also participated in the Hold Still photography project has urged Prince Louis to take part in her fundraiser. Mila Sneddon, of Falkirk, who featured in the Duchess of Cambridge’s book last year in the viral photograph entitled Shielding Mila where she was pictured kissing her father through a window.
Earlier this year, Mila and mother Lynda joined the Duchess for tea at Holyroodhouse, where Kate kept her promise to the youngster that she would wear a pink dress when they met in person.
Appearing on Lorraine today, Mila shared a wonderful idea, stating that she would love if Prince Louis would take part in her September campaign, aptly named Scoot in September urging children to share pictures of themselves riding their scooters raising awareness for Blood Cancer UK.
Mila’s mom Lynda said that they come up with the idea a few months ago.
‘Children that undergo chemo can struggle with mobility problems and we felt that physiotherapy exercises are excellent but scooting for Mila was really beneficial,’ Lynda explained.
Host Lorraine Kelly asked the youngster: ‘Do we want Kate to get her children to get on their scooters? Louis might be the same age as you, so if he could go out on it, it would be lovely.’
‘Hopefully, he’ll get on the scooter, because if he doesn’t then Scoot for September is ruined!’ Mila joked.
Mila was sadly diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in November 2019 when she was just four, but after undergoing intense chemotherapy she is due to return to school by next week.
‘We are incredibly grateful and fortunate, we have a supportive family and I appreciate that not everyone is in that situation,’ she said.
‘Lockdown has had its challenges. As things start to open back up it can make you anxious. She has spent some time in hospital recently, but is back at home now and hopefully back at school at the end of this week.’
Mom Lynda says that Mila hopefully only has seven months of chemotherapy left, and she hopes the campaign will raise awareness of the symptoms of blood cancer, especially for parents.
‘I spent many weeks thinking Mila was anemic. We were very fortunate we got a quick diagnosis sadly it’s not the case for a lot of people,’ she said.
‘I think we’re in a period of time when children aren’t going to school because of lockdown, they’re losing the eyes of teaching staff. It was really just to highlight to parents what signs and symptoms to look out for blood cancer.’
When the pandemic hit it was another blow to Mila and her family, with her parents Scott and Lynda deciding to isolate separately to minimize the risk to their daughter, Lynda staying with Mila and Scott and Jodi, Mila’s 16-year-old sister, going to Lynda’s parents.
The photograph of Mila kissing her father through the window was taken on their first day separated. Going viral after Lynda shared it online stating the importance of social distancing.
The Duchess of Cambridge phoned the mother and daughter pair last autumn, sharing their conversation on the Duke and Duchess’ youtube channel.
The little girl began the call by saying: ‘Good morning, Your Royal Highness,’ prompting Kate to respond: ‘Good morning. Goodness me, you’re so polite Mila.’
This is when Kate promised to wear a pink dress, when Mila mentioned her favourite colour.
‘We took the decision to isolate separately before lockdown because we were very conscious about what was happening, certainly in Europe, and in the UK, at that time,’ Lynda told the duchess.
‘But our lockdown did come with a bit of a silver lining because she’s still going through treatment and her immune system is compromised. Lockdown for us allowed us a period of time to focus on her treatment without interruption of illnesses and viruses in general, not just Covid-19.’
When asked why she had to spend time away from her father, Mila Sneddon told Kate: ‘He had to look after me because I went for a treatment… When he came [back] into the house I was so surprised.’
Viewers quickly took to Twitter today to praise the little girl
One insisting that her appearance had ‘turned [their] morning right around’.
‘This little girl Mila Sneddon is giving me all the vibes this morning’, said another.
A third viewer commented: ‘Awww..genuine, pure happiness.’