A MUM is fundraising for a local hospice after her nine-year-old daughter died four days before her birthday.
Dawn Cusworth, of Wood View, Birdwell, is hoping to raise £11,000 for Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice who provided the family with a room and time to come to terms with the loss away from the family home.
Mia was diagnosed with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), a rare condition where the body reacts inappropriately to an infection, on Thursday, August 30 and died eight days later.
Dawn, 45, said: “It was such a shock to all of the family because she had only just been diagnosed with HLH. She was a fit and healthy little girl and we thought that she just had a virus.
“She went into intensive care on the Sunday, and died on the Friday, four days before she turned 10. She was really excited for her birthday and hitting double figures.
“Mia was a really happy girl who was always singing and dancing. She loved spending time with her family and she always had a smile. Her smile could light up a room.
“Myself and my other two children are currently having tests to see if this is genetic as it can often be inherited.”
Mia attended Hoyland Common Primary School and Dawn explained her daughter loved school.
She said: “Mia was forever organising the teachers at school. She took pride in tidying and organising their desks. The school have been fantastic, they held a special assembly for her and now have a house trophy in her memory.”
The school recently held a Christmas fair where they raised money for Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice.
The event raised £1,200, which will be added to the £2,800 which has already been raised on the crowd funding page.
Dawn explained: “Everyone has been so generous but I’d like to give a special thanks to Mr Fallon, Mia’s head teacher, and to Morrisons for donating lots and lots of cakes and flowers. They gave one to every pupil on Mia’s birthday.”
Dawn and her family are hoping to raise £11,000 in total, which is the cost to run the hospice for one day.
She said: “ Bluebell Wood offered us time to come to terms with loosing Mia away from our family home. The work that they do is priceless so we want to raise as much as we can.
If you would like to donate please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mias-smile.
