Get Lily to the Melbourne Championships 2024!

Welcome to Lily’s Fundraising Page. We are fundraising to support Lily to be able to compete in the Australian Open’s Person With Intellectual Impairment Championships in Melbourne 2024!

Thank you in advance for any form of support you are able to give, whether that is donating, or sharing this fundraiser page!

About Lily

Lily was born in August 2000 and soon became seriously ill in a matter of days. After being rushed to the hospital, Tallulah (Lily’s Mum) was told Lily was critically ill and had slim chances of surviving. Lily was helped by doctors and nurses day and night to save her life whilst she was fighting meningitis and septicemia. Tallulah was told that if Lily survived, they expected Lily would have severe brain damage, and to prepare for the worst.

After intensive care, a specialist diagnosed Lily with a rare genetic disorder called Galactosaemia. This is a disease that means her body cannot turn galactose into glucose which increases toxic levels of galactose in the body. If left untreated, this causes vomiting, jaundice, brain damage, and death.

This has all left Lily with cognitive impairments, including learning disabilities, an IQ of 42, short-term memory loss, poor coordination, and a tremor. Despite these huge barriers, Lily has grown to become a kind, energetic, and happy young adult with a brilliant attitude to facing new challenges.

Tennis

As Lily grew up, Lily’s life became smaller as friends around her (who didn’t have additional needs) outgrew her and she struggled to make new friends. Whilst Lily first picked up a racket at the age of 5, she began to take it seriously from 12 years old as tennis gave her opportunities a young girl like Lily deserves. Without tennis, Lily’s life would be small and isolating as she cannot travel independently. Tennis has played a vital role in Lily’s life, not only with her confidence and self-esteem, but her mental and physical health. Whilst Lily relies on lots of support to do normal day-to-day things that many take for granted, the repetition and routine of tennis have been life-changing for her.

Lily’s training and dedication became more serious over time, Lily has played tennis for 18 years now with rapidly developed skills and performance. As Lily’s skill levels have improved so dramatically, she has competed and won countless Gold and Silver medals at regional, national, and international competitions. Lily competes for the development squad for the LTA which is an honor, not to mention being the only female player on the team.

Alongside this, Lily is an Ambassador for Virtus Sport, the International Sports Federation for the top elite athletes with an intellectual impairment, and has competed in the Special Olympics internationally, twice!

In 2017 Lily was selected to represent Team GB in the Special Olympic Summer Games in Sheffield, winning Silver for both Women’s Singles and Mixed Doubles. In 2019 Lily was chosen to represent Team GB in the Special Olympic World Games held in Abu Dhabi where she won Double Gold in Women’s Singles and Mixed Doubles.

2023 has been an incredibly performance-challenging year for Lily. In June Lily competed for the first time ever on clay courts in Vichy for the Virtus Global Games, and then back-to-back (with a 24-hour turn-around to travel to Berlin) to represent GB in the Berlin Special Olympics. Lily brought home Bronze for Singles, and Gold for mixed doubles.

This winter, we have been astounded by the news that Lily has been accepted to the prestigious Australian Open’s Person With Intellectual Impairment Championships in Melbourne, Jan 2024. Lily has been selected through the rigorous application stages due to her talent, hard work, and proven ability to represent her country on an international level. For many people living with Learning Disabilities, sport offers life-changing opportunities, and for Lily tennis is exactly that. Lily has been offered a place to compete in Melbourne (as part of the world-renowned Australian Open) in Women’s Singles.

All of Lily’s incredible achievements have been down to the support of family, friends, and the kindness of strangers who have been touched by Lily’s story. To get Lily to the Special Olympics in Abu Dhabi in 2019, and Berlin in 2023, as a family, we have fundraised for support that goes directly to the vital 1-1 coaching, specialist training, equipment, and all the travel necessary to make Lily’s dreams possible.

Australian Open’s Players with an Intellectual Impairment Championship 2024

In January 2024, the world-renowned Australian Open will take place in Melbourne again, alongside running their Players with an Intellectual Impairment Championship. Sharing the same courts with tennis legends like Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber, and so many others; this is an incredibly significant morale boost for Lily.

Lily will be warmly invited to compete amongst other world-class ranking athletes in this inclusive and diverse Championship. There have only been 8 Men & 8 Women selected to compete (these are the top 6 athletes based on VIRTUS singles rankings + 2 wildcards). Lily has the prestigious honor of competing for a medal with your help. We are hoping that Lily can be in Melbourne a week prior to the Championship so that she can acclimatise to Australia’s summer heat and timezone and train in Melbourne in order to prepare her for her toughest challenge yet.

We are kindly asking that you support us in getting Lily to the championships through any help you can offer. Whether it is donating to this fundraiser, or sharing the link to your social media channels and networks. The money donated to this page will have a direct impact on Lily’s life.

Thank You!

Behind Lily’s success is a brilliant team of family and friends. Lily’s support has expanded over the years from her phenomenal full-time carer and Mother, Tallulah. Lily has her kind and determined specialist coach, Mukumber, who has taken Lily’s skills and performance to an unrecognisable level over recent years.

Lily’s story truly wouldn’t be possible without the dedication she has from remarkable individuals like Anne and Mark (to just name a few). Anne is without a doubt an incredibly positive influence in Lily’s life, always there for her and Tallulah through their next steps, wherever it takes them, including Berlin back in July! Mark has pushed Lily to new levels by guiding her to new opportunities with coaching, public speaking, growing her confidence, raising Lily’s professional profile in the tennis world, and in Lily’s words “is the best mentor ever”.

Truly, from the bottom of our hearts, we as Lily’s family cannot thank everyone enough for their contributions to Lily’s story so far, and for any way you may help in the future, thank you!

Lots of love,

Team Lily xx

Instagram: LilyMillsTennis

Please note GoFundMe takes 2.9% + £0.25 per donation. All remaining donation amounts go directly to Lily’s coaching and training in preparation & during, any necessary equipment, in addition to purchase of travel, accommodation, and remaining costs during the Championships. This fundraising initiative is managed on behalf of Lily by her family.