Longford Little Blue Hero Maddie Baxter: The world is opening up to Maddie now

Some normality - that’s all we want for Christmas, and spending time at home,” says the mother of four-year-old, Madison ‘Maddie’ Baxter.

Jacinta Baxter is mother of Maddie, who was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukaemia (ALL) when she was two years of age.

For two full years since 2021, Maddie has been receiving treatment for her illness in Crumlin Children's Hospital, which she has now provisionally put behind her.

Maddie is an Honorary Garda with Little Blue Heroes, meaning she is part of a charitable organisation which nominates a member of An Garda Síochána to be ‘her best friend’ within the community.

“She is like the whole village’s child - we are from Ardagh in Longford, and the whole community is behind her.

“At the beginning when she was two, Maddie just had a limp and doctors brushed it off by telling me to give her Calpol.

“We did all of the pain relief, but she was still limping and I wasn’t happy about it - I knew something was up. Within four hours it came back that she had leukaemia.

“Since her diagnosis, Maddie has had over 35 surgeries, including a Hickman line for cancer treatment, and went straight into chemotherapy the day that she was diagnosed.”

Caption: Honorary Garda Madison 'Maddie' Baxter and her mam Jacinta take a closer look at Madison's garda patrol car as her siblings Joshua, Bella and Noah together with their father, Niall watch on

She has had over 200 chemotherapy sessions, her mother says.

Jacinta says that Maddie is only now getting to experience ‘normality’, because when she had been diagnosed in 2021, it was the height of Covid-19.

“It’s only now Maddie is experiencing normal things other kids get to do - she went to a playground for the first time this year. The world is opening up to her now. She rang the bell in July which marks the end of her cancer treatment for now.

“Her immune system is so low, she picks up everything, but that doesn’t stop her singing and dancing! She is with Claddagh Irish Dance Academy and she adores Disney’s Frozen, and that is covered in the Operation Blue Light Heroes book.”

Maddie is due to start school in September and is currently in creché. She was nominated last year for the Little Blue Heroes Foundation by a cousin of her mother Jacinta, who is an ambulance driver.

“It came about when my cousin nominated Maddie when she was really sick, and then we met local Garda Emma Kiernan, who came up with the idea for the Christmas books.

“Emma is great. Maddie and her siblings Bella (8), Noah (10) and Josh (12) love her. Last Christmas, the local gardaí involved with Little Blue Heroes came to our house and gifted Maddie with her own little Garda uniform and police jeep.”

Jacinta concluded by saying that Maddie loves that she was a main character in the latest Operation Blue Light Heroes book, and that they are “very grateful” going into Christmas.

MAIN PHOTO CAPTION: Honorary Garda Madison Baxter was awarded Longford's Little Blue Hero for her bravery fighting leukaemia back in December 2022 but she wasn't well enough to attend the event. Last March she had an amazing surprise when the Ballymahon gardaí showed up at her house with her own uniform and her very own Garda patrol car which came complete with her name on the licence plate, kids music radio station, lights, sirens, the absolute works!