Extracts from Mikayla's Diary

From Wantage Herald, October 2017 AT 11 years old, Mikayla Beames has battled cancer, founded a charity to help other cancer sufferers and helped it raise £70,000. There are few people in Oxfordshire more deserving of a medal. Instead, to celebrate her charity's third birthday at the end of September, she held an awards ceremony to thank all the other people who had helped it on its way. She and the other members of Team Mikayla told Pete Hughes their story and why they wanted to say 70,000 thank-yous. IN September 2014, eight-year-old Mikayla Beames had been receiving treatment for tumours in her brain since the age of four. Mikayla, from Childrey near Wantage, had spent a huge portion of her young life on Kamran's Ward at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. When she asked her mum Natasha if she could do something to help her friends on the ward – children with cancer and leukaemia – to forget their pain, forget their worries and bring forth their smiles and youthful happiness, her charity Team Mikayla was formed. Its very first fundraising event – the christening party for Mikayla and her siblings – raised more than £1,000. Since then, the charity has raised £70,000 in total and £44,000 in the past year alone. This extraordinary amount of money has enabled Team Mikayla to grant wishes to 33 brave children, ranging from holidays and laptops and musicals and driving lessons as well as countless Christmas presents, Easter eggs, and overnight wash kits for children on the ward and their parents. "And of course," enthuses Mrs Beames, "none of this would be possible without the kind donations from, or sponsorship of, the 171 individuals and businesses doing wonderful things to achieve Mikayla’s dream. "Over the three years since the charity’s inception, there has been a magnificent diversity in the events and personal challenges undertaken from an even-greater diversity of individuals." To name just a few, these have included pantomimes and Christingle services; fundraisers by Wantage Girl Guides and Brownies; Christmas parties at the Sweatbox youth club in Wantage, and gruelling sporting events such as cycling, swimming, and running, all supported by the ever-growing army of volunteers.

Text taken from Wantage Herald 4th May 2021 A TEENAGE girl who has been battling cancer for a decade has seen miraculous results after trialling a new drug. At 14 years old, Mikayla Beames has been fighting cancer for most of her life. The teenager, who lives in Childrey near Wantage, was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour at the age of just four and has since been through a number of rounds of chemotherapy as well as several other forms of difficult treatment. Read also: Lidl opens its latest store in Abingdon Despite that, she set up a charity called Team Mikayla which has helped to grant the wishes of hundreds of other children also fighting cancer. For that work, she has won several awards and met Prince Harry twice. However, in November, Mikayla got her own wish granted when she was put on a new treatment for her cancer called 'inhibitors', which help the body recognise and attack cancer cells. The latest scans of Mikayla's brain, shared by her mother Natasha, show that the tumour has shrunk by a half. The teenager's family are now thrilled after her turnaround and, in an emotional interview with this paper, her mother said she has been waiting for these results for ten years. Ms Beames said: "Mikayla was diagnosed with a large tumour in her brain when she was very young. "She was very quickly started on to chemotherapy and we have had to do six different rounds of it because the tumour just kept growing. "Now she is 14, so it has been a very long-winded, hard and draining battle. "We ran out of ideas of what we can do with the tumour – but there is a new treatment called inhibitors and Mikayla was granted it on the NHS." Ms Beames said Mikayla was the first child to try the inhibitors treatment at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. She went on: "We have waited ten years to get those answers, it has been a long road. "We just kept getting bad news after more bad news, so it is so overwhelming and exciting that the tumour has shrunk by a half.

Again looking for me online, found this old picture from The Oxford Mail... I was only six!

I was looking and searching for things about me online for the new website and found this one. I like this smiley picture. Below was copied from the Daily Mail Online story.. hope they don't mind! By CATHERINE O'BRIEN FOR YOU MAGAZINE - PUBLISHED: 01:02, 9 April 2017 Mikayla was diagnosed with brain cancer at the age of four. Although she has undergone several rounds of chemotherapy to reduce her tumour, her vision has been severely affected and she is now registered blind. After meeting other sick children while undergoing treatment, Mikayla, from Wantage, Oxfordshire, set up the charity Team Mikayla to help other young patients’ dreams come true. Mum Natasha explains that her slogan is ‘Dream, pray, miracles all the way’, adding: ‘We feel that if more people could be like Mikayla, the world would be a better place.’ Link to the whole story including all the other winners is here