18-year-old from Oxfordshire battling cancer receives BEM
Mikayla Beames is one of the youngest people on the New Year Honours list
An 18-year-old from Wantage, who's fighting cancer, has been recognised in the King’s New Years Honours List by receiving a British Empire Medal (BEM).
Mikayla Beames is of the youngest people on the list. She founded a charity in 2014 to help other people going through the same experience as her after she was diagnosed with brain cancer at the age of four.
The charity is called Team Mikayla and since it was set up, she has been able to grant over 350 wishes to children battling cancer.
It has raised more than £300,000.
Mikayla is now urging others her age to get involved in "rewarding" charitable causes.
She said: “Whenever we get an application come through it just warms my heart that whatever the child asks for we can grant it.
“Giving a child a smile makes me want to drive on and do more.”
The charity is able to help children with anything up to the value of £500, as Mikyla says, “it’s anything that can make a difference to them and create a bit of a smile”.
One very important letter:
Mikayla was on her way back from college when she had a phone call from her mum saying, “this looks like a very important letter”.
Mikayla is visually impaired, so once she arrived home her mum opened the letter and read it out loud to her.
Her mum, Natasha Beames, 43, said: “Once I was reading the next line down in my head, before I read it out loud, I started screaming.
“I couldn’t breathe, I really couldn't breathe for her.”
Mikayla said: “It’s just such an honour in itself, you don’t think an ordinary person like myself will get such an amazing reward. It’s just awesome.”
Since 2014, Team Mikayla has granted 220 wishes to children who are fighting cancer, distributing more than 1,000 Christmas presents.