The last couple of years have been a difficult and emotionally-charged roller-coaster for 11-year-old Maddie Stevens. At such young age, she was tasked with taking care of her mother, Gail, who struggled with breast cancer until the illness got the best of her and died at 48.
Despite the pain of losing her mother, Maddie only allowed herself one day off school to attend the funeral and then went back to class immediately, to “keep things as normal for her as we could.”
But when she got back to school, she was greeted with a shocking note, telling her that she would not be going to the end-of-term restaurant outing because “she didn’t have a 100% attendance record.”
Addie and her mother Gail. Photo: The Mirror.
“It would have been a nice treat. Helping my mum out for the past two years has been hard,” the girl told reporters.
“It’s just so insensitive after everything she has been through,” her father said.
As reported by SfGlobe, “Shortly after Gail passed, Maddie and her father created a JustGiving page to earn money for The Myton Hospices, whose staffed looked after Gail during her last year.”
While it’s unfortunate that Maddie missed out on the class trip, that led the 11-year-old to start the campaign.
The Mirror
Maddie told The Mirror: “I was sad for one day because I missed a school trip but I know I did my best at school and I am glad now I missed out because it means that all this money has been raised for Myton.”
“I want to raise money so that beds can be open all the time and other families can be together at hard times,” She added.
After the news broke, the head teacher at St. Giles Junior School, issued an apology to Maddie and her family, according to The Mirror.
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