Mummy's Special Medicine

Five-year-old Maisie loved to play dressing-up with her toy rabbit, Pip. But lately, things at home felt a little bit different. Mummy was very tired, and she spent a lot of time resting on the big green sofa.

Sometimes, Mummy had to go to the hospital to see the doctors. Maisie squeezed Pip’s soft ears and wondered why Mummy couldn’t play tag in the garden. "Mummy has some poorly cells inside her body," Daddy explained gently.

Daddy said the poorly cells were called cancer. They were like tiny, naughty weeds growing where they shouldn’t. "The doctors are going to give Mummy a very special, strong medicine to make them go away," Daddy said.

The special medicine was very clever, but it worked so hard that it made Mummy feel sleepy and weak. She needed lots of quiet rest days to let the medicine do its job. Maisie walked on her tiptoes so she wouldn’t wake her up.

Because Mummy needed to rest, Granny came to stay. Granny wore funny socks and walked Maisie and Pip to school every morning. They splashed in the puddles and sang silly songs all the way to the gates.

In the evenings, Daddy was in charge of making the tea. Sometimes the pasta was a little bit sticky, but Daddy made funny smiley faces with the peas. Everyone was working together to help Mummy.

One day, Maisie and Pip went to the hospital to visit Mummy. They met a kind nurse named Priya, who wore bright blue scrubs and had a warm, sunny smile. Nurse Priya sat down with Maisie for a special chat.

"I have three very important things to tell you, Maisie," Nurse Priya said, holding Pip’s paw. "First, you cannot catch cancer like a cold. You can still hug and kiss your Mummy as much as you like."

"Second," Nurse Priya continued, "nothing you said, did, or thought made Mummy get poorly. It is nobody’s fault at all." Maisie felt a big, heavy worry float right out of her tummy.

"And third, so many clever people are working hard to help your Mummy get better," Priya smiled. Maisie looked around the busy hospital and felt glad there was a whole team on Mummy’s side.

When they got home, Maisie decided she had an important job to do too. She climbed gently onto the big sofa next to Mummy and tucked Pip under her arm. "I am your chief cuddle-giver, Mummy," Maisie whispered.

Mummy smiled and squeezed Maisie close, smelling like sweet lavender. Even though Mummy was poorly right now, she loved Maisie just as much as she always had. And that was the best medicine of all.