Fresh hopes for Monroe

A NEW specialist and a helping hand from the NSW Premier may see a brighter 2016 for Monroe Mills.

EXCITING TIMES: Little Monroe Mills, with the support of nan Jewel Wheeler and her family, is hoping 2016 will provide some answers about her mysterious illness.

A NEW specialist and a helping hand from the NSW Premier may see a brighter 2016 for Monroe Mills.

The Nambucca Heads toddler, who suffers excruciating pain due to a rare allergy to sunlight known as solar urticaria, has been given various medications in the past year, even chemotherapy, in the hope of managing the incurable condition.

Monroe's mother Sarah Mills is hoping to reach out to a new specialist at Sydney's Westmead Hospital to find more answers about the three-year-old's condition after her specialist in Newcastle exhausted all treatments.

"We're really hoping 2016 will bring some specialists," Ms Mills said.

"Now (the doctors) have sort of reached a point where they don't really know what to do and basically their answer was to keep her indoors."

Thanks to generous community donations to Ms Mills' A Miracle for Monroe campaign, a highlight of 2015 for little Monroe was the installation of a hydrotherapy bath which helps to help ease her discomfort.

But with the highs of 2015 came some very painful lows for the family, from struggling to find tradesmen to rebuild their sunroom to ensure a safe play environment for Monroe and brother Hendrix, who has autism, to Monroe's preschool reporting Ms Mills for allegedly neglecting her daughter's health care.

"That was a massive kick in the guts. That's the one thing I'm on top of - I'm at the doctors every week for her," Ms Mills said.

Leaving 2015 in the past, Ms Mills is looking forward to the promise of 2016, with Premier Mike Baird throwing his support behind little Monroe by funding a benefit for the toddler later this year in Sydney.

Ms Mills has also forged a strong friendship with a mother in the UK who also has a toddler suffering from solar urticaria. She hopes the families can one day meet in person.

To support Monroe, visit the Miracle For Monroe Facebook page.