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Boy, 6, set for Santa run in memory of baby sister

Ben CarrLeicester
News imageSupplied Maxwell is holding his baby sister Lily- who has tubes in her nose. Supplied
Maxwell Appleyard said he wanted to raise money for Rainbows for his sister Lily

A six-year-old boy is to take part in a charity Santa run in memory of his baby sister.

Maxwell Appleyard, from Melton, Leicestershire, is set to participate in the Loughborough Santa Run to raise money for Rainbows Hospice after his sister Lily, died there in 2022.

Lily, who was diagnosed with neonatal epilepsy, was initially given a prognosis of two years but "declined quickly" and was put into intensive care at Leicester Royal Infirmary. She went into end-of-life care at Rainbows and died 24 hours later at just six weeks old.

Their mum, Viki Appleyard, 30, said the hospice was the first place that Lily "wasn't hooked up to machines" and the first place that Maxwell was able to hug her.

"Rainbows made a huge difference to us", Mrs Appleyard said.

"All of Lily's life was spent in hospital and she had never been outside. At Rainbows we could do as many normal things as possible."

News imageSupplied The family of Maxwell, Viki, and Luke are smiling with what looks to be Christmas lights in the background. Supplied
Viki Appleyard said she was "so proud" of her son

Lily stayed in the hospice's bereavement suite after she died, giving the family an "invaluable" week making memories with her.

The Appleyard family were told of her diagnosis at Leicester Royal Infirmary after coming back to the UK from a military base in Cyprus.

Mrs Appleyard said Lily could not feed, was "quite stiff" and had "restricted movement" when she born along with "a lot of very intense seizures one after the other".

"As we had to rush back from Cyprus, we didn't even have somewhere we could call our own. Rainbows gave us a home and enabled us to be a family after losing Lily," Mrs Appleyard added.

"We were able to make memories, and Maxwell sees Rainbows as a place where he spent time with his sister."

Mrs Appleyard said the family was "so proud" of their son and he was "so excited" to take part.

Maxwell and his dad Luke will join hundreds taking to the streets of Loughborough for Rainbows' Santa Run - where participants will run dressed as Santa or wearing a Santa T-shirt - starting at 11:00 GMT on Sunday.

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