A five-year-old with a rare form of blood cancer who featured in the Duchess of Cambridge’s Hold Still photography project has urged Prince Louis to take part in her fundraising campaign.
Mila Sneddon, of Falkirk, was captured kissing her father through a window during lockdown last year in a viral photograph, entitled Shielding Mila, which featured in Kate’s book last year.
In May this year, Mia and her mother Lynda were welcomed by the royal, 39, for tea at Holyroodhouse, with Kate keeping her promise to the youngster that she would wear a pink dress when they met in person.
Appearing on Lorraine today, Mila said that she would love Prince Louis, three, to take part in her Scoot in September campaign, urging children to share pictures of themselves riding their scooters to raise awareness for Blood Cancer UK.
Mila Sneddon, of Falkirk, who featured in the Duchess of Cambridge’s Hold Still photography project were welcomed by the royal, 39, for tea at Holyroodhouse, during her and Prince William’s final day of their week-long visit to Scotland
Appearing on Lorraine today, Mila said that she would love Prince Louis to take part in her Scoot in September campaign, urging children to share pictures of themselves riding their scooters to raise awareness for Blood Cancer UK
Her mother Lynda said that they had come up with the idea of ‘getting everybody scooting’ 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,’ she explained.
Host Lorraine Kelly asked Mila: ‘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.’
The little girl joked: ‘Hopefully he’ll get on the scooter, because if he doesn’t then Scoot for September is ruined!’.
Mila was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in November 2019 when she was four-years-old, and Lynda said that after undergoing intense chemotherapy, tshe should be returning to school by next week.
Mila was captured kissing her father through a window during lockdown last year in a viral photograph, entitled Shielding Mila, which featured in Kate’s Hold Still photography book last year
Mum Lynda said children that undergo chemo can struggle with mobility problems and that while ‘physiotherapy exercises are excellent, scooting for Mila was really beneficial.’
‘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.’
Her mother said that Mila hopefully has seven months of chemotherapy left, and that she hopes the campaign will raise awareness of the symptoms of blood cancer for parents.
‘I spent many weeks thinking Mila was anaemic. We were very fortunate we got a quick diagnosis sadly it’s not the case for a lot of people,’ she said.
Mila was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in November 2019 when she was just four and Lynda says that after undergoing intense chemotherapy, the little girl should be returning to school by next week
The mother says that Mila hopefully has seven months of chemotherapy left an that she hopes the campaign will raise awareness of the symptoms of blood cancer for parents
‘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, parents Lynda and Scott decided to isolate separately to minimise the risk to their daughter. Lynda stayed with Mila while service engineer Scott and Mila’s sister Jodi, 16, went to Lynda’s parents.
The photograph of Mila kissing her father through the window pane was taken on their first day of separation. It went viral after Lynda shared it online with a post about the importance of observing social distancing measures and other restrictions.
Mother-of-three Kate phoned Mila and Lynda last autumn and the conversation was released earlier on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s YouTube channel, alongside heart-warming photographs of Mila and her family.
Wearing a floral face mask to match her pink dress, Kate sat and chatted with Mila and her parents at the Palace
Mia also wore a dainty pink dress to match the Duchess, which she matched with sweet ballet shoes and white frilled socks
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.’
Mila excitedly told Kate that she enjoys walking her dog, knows the names of all the Cambridge children and likes the colour pink – prompting Kate to promise she will wear a pink dress if they have the opportunity to meet.
Today on the ITV show the five-year-old excitedly noted to host Lorraine that the duchess kept her promise when they finally met in person in May, with the royal sporting a pink ME+EM’s silk shirt dress.
‘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.’
Viewers quickly took to Twitter today to praise the little girl, insisting that her appearance had ‘turned my morning right around’
When asked why she had to spend time away from her father, Mila 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, insisting that her appearance had ‘turned my morning right around’.
‘This little girl Mila Sneddon is giving me all the vibes this morning’, said another viewer.
A third viewer commented: ‘Awww.. genuine, pure happiness.’