Serviceman who lost his 17-month-old daughter to cancer gets behinds Smiles At Christmas campaign
Andy Barnard, a Senior Aircraftman in the RAF, is calling on everyone to join up and help fight cancer in children
A DAD who tragically lost his daughter to a rare form of cancer is has added his voice to The Sun's Smiles at Christmas campaign.
Andrew Barnard's little girl, Poppy-Mai, was diagnosed with the disease early this year and was given just two days to live when doctors realised the extent of the illness.
The brave little tot outlasted the doctors predictions but tragically passed away in May this year.
Now Andy is on a mission to raise awareness and is sharing his story with The Sun as part of our Smiles at Christmas campaign.
The 32-year-old Senior Aircraftman is calling on everyone to "get together" and help fight cancer in children.
"But because they didn’t physically examine her they didn’t realise the lump was on her kidneys not in her bowel," Andy said.
Following his daughter's tragic passing Andy and his family, wife Sammi, 30, and his two sons Rylee, 7, and four-year-old Jenson are trying to raise awareness of children who suffer from cancer through the Poppy-Mai Foundaiton.
Andy said: "You see campaigns for anti smoking, anti drinking, drink driving campaigns and diabetes but you don’t see enough about children with cancer."
Text: To give £2, text KIDS55 2 to 70070. You can change the amount to £3, £4, £5 or £10 by changing the last figure to 3, 4, 5 or 10.
Post: Send a cheque, made payable to JustGiving Foundation, to JustGiving The Sun Appeal, Bluefin Building 2nd Floor, London SE1 0TA
Give toys
You can donate new or used toys in good condition at 1,370 branches of McColl’s convenience stores.
Or tweet using #SmilesAtChristmas to let us know how you’re getting involved!
He went on to tell of how an online petition he started gained enough signatures to get child cancer treatment debated in parliament last Monday.
The drive is to raise £1 million for four charities, including Children With Cancer, a charity dedicated to investing millions of pounds into research and welfare for kids every year.
Our Smiles At Christmas appeal is urging our generous readers to donate money, toys or both to needy children.
A quarter of all donations and toys to our Smiles At Christmas appeal will be given to Children With Cancer UK, one of four charities we are supporting.
More than 4,000 children and young people in the UK are diagnosed with the disease each year. Of those, ten die every week.