I’LL CHERISH THIS FOREVER
EVEN THE BAND CRIED AS KEV HAD LAST DANCE WITH DYING DAUGHTER
THERE wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Even the band lost it as a doting dad had a final dance with his dying daughter.
In as heartbeaking a scene as you’ll ever see, Stone Foundation fought back tears as they played Kevin and Millie McGuire’s special song before a gig.
Kev, from Renfrew, organised the private rendition of Your Balloon is Rising so they could dance one last time before she passes away.
Millie has brain damage and is now receiving palliative care.
Kev, 51 – whose wife Marcia is an anaesthetics nursing sister – said: “We have accepted that Millie will pass away but we refuse to get down about it as we are too busy making lovely memories with her.
“The one thing that does get to me is the knowledge I will never ever dance with Millie at landmark birthdays or her wedding.
“When I see videos of dads dancing with their daughters at events, as lovely as it is, it kills me inside. It’s the little things.
“I sing this song to Millie regularly but to have the lovely chaps from Stone Foundation play it for her so she can dance with her dad and celebrate her upcoming birthday is something I’ll cherish forever.
“Millie woke up during it and looked at me and made the little cute noise she makes.” Kev, who also works for the NHS, said Millie wasn’t expected to last the night after she suffered brain damage prior to her birth in November 2015 at North Tees hospital.
But the youngster proved to be a fighter. Despite her health struggles, she has given her family inspiration and joy in the years since.
Millie will turn two at the end of this month and Kev and his family, who live in Hartlepool, are making the most of the time they have with her.
Kev said: “You’ll get no sad tears from me. I have none to shed. Why would I?
“Millie brings nothing but smiles and happiness – her balloon is rising.”
He added: “When Millie was born, she required resuscitation due to a likely oxygen problem in the weeks leading up to her birth. She was a full-term baby.
“The medics informed us that the likelihood of her surviving the night were practically nil – but she fought hard.
“She was then ‘frozen’ down in a revolutionary procedure we call therapeutic hypothermia, where her temperature was taken down to around 32C to halt any further brain damage.
“After 72 hours, they slowly warmed her back up over a three-day period – and then it was a waiting game.
“Millie was unconscious for around six weeks until one day, she opened one eye.
“The neo-natal ward 23 at North Tees hospital is quite frankly staffed by angels.”
Millie also suffers from a metabolic disorder that means even the slightest unorthodox movement in her legs could fracture her bones.
She has no gag reflex and cannot swallow so she is fed through a tube that goes down her nose and into her bowel.
A separate tube in her other nostril carries the drugs she needs directly into her stomach.
Kev said: “In amongst all this, Millie was hit by every infection going and it was discovered that she had a rare virus called HHV-6 in her DNA.
“She had almost weekly chest infections and was on oxygen for most of her younger months.”
In May this year, Millie’s condition deteriorated and, as well as her muscle problems, she began having seizures.
Kev said: “Her consultants said she was telling us she has had enough and that perhaps it was time she was put on to a palliative care pathway. We know Millie is going to pass away, we don’t know when.
“At the minute, she is comfortable as she is on morphine for pain, midazolam for muscle relaxation and other drugs to take care of reflux and secretions.
“Her feeds have been turned down for comfort feeding only. She is pain-free and relaxed.
“She has a lovely room at James Cook paediatric ward and we have access to a parents’ room to stay over.
“We also sleep at home as she is nice and settled and it is only a 10-minute drive away.”
Kev and his family, including son Tom, 19, and daughter Annie, 10, have now made it their mission to let Millie know how loved she is.
He said: “We made a pact that as heartbreaking as it is, Millie must come first – far, far before our own selfish thoughts.
“For that reason, we refuse to get all dour and ‘woe is me’ about the situation.
“It would interfere with us making happy memories with Millie.
“Then we really would have failed as parents and we would kick ourselves for the rest of our lives wishing that we had done this, that or the other while she was still here.
“You won’t see any sad tears dropping from our eyes because in her short time on this crappy spinning rock, Millie has given us only happiness and love.”