A child cancer victim who was helped through her own health battle by the Princess of Wales sent a poignant message of love to the royal last night.
Mila Sneddon was just four years old when she was diagnosed with lymphoblastic leukaemia, a rare form of cancer which affects the blood and bone marrow.
The little girl, from Larbert, Stirlingshire, came to Kate’s attention when she was the Duchess of Cambridge.
She spotted a touching photograph of the youngster shielding in lockdown for medical reasons, with her father Scott outside her kitchen window.
It was chosen as an image for “Hold Still: A Portrait of Our Nation in 2020”, which Kate, a keen photographer, enthusiastically promoted.
Kate said the picture was one of her favourites, describing it as “powerful” and “told the story of a difficult time”.
She invited Mila and her family for tea at the Palace of Holyrood in Edinburgh in May 2021.
Yesterday, following the shock news that the Princess is suffering from cancer, Mila, now eight and in remission, told her: “I hope you have a good recovery.
Get better soon.” When Mila met Kate in Edinburgh, she told the Princess that pink was her favourite colour.
Kate promptly slipped out and changed into a pink dress in her visitor’s honour.
Mila said yesterday: “I had blood cancer and I fought it. I remember meeting Princess Kate and it was so nice. She asked me what my favourite colour was and I said pink, and she also told me that she liked my pink dress.”
Wearing a tiny tiara for the occasion, Mila said that “laughs” with Kate had helped her during her illness.
Her mum Lynda said that Friday, the day on which the Princess of Wales revealed her illness, coincided with Mila’s two-year anniversary of being in remission.
The pair were out shopping in Glasgow when they heard the news.
Lynda, 40, said: “We both found it quite upsetting.
“Kate was a big advocate of Mila’s during treatment and it is something which we will never forget.
“We are shocked and saddened, like other people across the world, to hear the news that she is requiring treatment.
“She has shown great bravery and strength to talk about what is happening and we wish her the very best.” Lynda said it was because she had children herself that Kate showed such empathy when they met.
“I would really like to commend her courage in speaking out about such a personal matter,” she said.
“I know that telling family about this diagnosis would be extremely difficult. You are not just thinking about how Prince William will take it, but the children as well. The fact that we were both mums and around the same age meant that we were able to strike up a bond whenever we met.
“With us, she was just a beautiful soul who showed such amazing empathy. She puts you at your ease. She’s just a typical mum, very down to earth and very kind and caring.
“There were many positives that came out of our encounters.
Mila got to read out a prayer at Kate’s Together At Christmas Concert at Westminster Abbey and we got a Christmas card from her last year.
All this – going to a palace and meeting Prince William – provided Mila with a wonderful distraction from her own treatment.” Every time the little girl underwent some kind of procedure for her condition, medical staff handed her a bead.
Counting them up recently, Lynda discovered they now total 900.
She endured a procession of chemotherapy treatments, steroid medication, blood and platelet transfusions, lumbar punctures and even a feeding tube inserted down her throat.
Lynda said Mila is now thriving in Primary 4 at school, though she does require ongoing treatment for other ailments as a result of the chemotherapy she had to go through.
She added: “It must have been a really difficult time for the Royal Family, given that the King has been recently diagnosed with cancer.
“As a family, we will reach out privately to Kate to wish her our very best.
“It’s the least we could do, considering what she has done for us.”