When Ann Oldham talks about her daughter Lilly, she doesn’t dwell on the disease that cut Lilly’s precious life short or the pain that Lilly endured during her 10 years because of sickle cell disease. Instead, Oldham remembers how much Lilly loved learning and gardening and the bond Lilly had with her twin brother Miles. 

“We wanted to give her every opportunity we could to be herself and not just be a child with sickle cell disease,” Oldham said. “We didn’t want that to define her.” 

Oldham believes all families with children battling sickle cell disease should be able to give their kids the best life possible. That’s in part why Oldham and her husband Myron Thompson, a federal judge for the Middle District of Alabama, set up a Donor Advised Fund through the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham to create the Lilly and Miles Oldham Thompson Fund in memory of their children. 

Oldham and Thompson’s vision for the fund is that it will help support the UAB sickle cell clinic for children living in and around Montgomery, where Oldham and Thompson live, as well as other specialized programs and services that provide the support needed by children with sickle cell disease and their families.

“We just decided that we wanted to support the clinic and make sure that families had a way to get treatment for their children without going all the way to Birmingham,” Oldham said, stressing how difficult such a trip could be for low-income families, parents with no flexibility at their jobs, or families from rural communities. 

Before establishing the Lilly and Miles Oldham Thompson Fund in April 2025, Oldham and Thompson had generously donated to the Sickle Cell Foundation in Montgomery, but they wanted to do more and felt confident that they could through a Donor Advised Fund. 

After setting up a Donor Advised Fund, donors can be directly involved with grantmaking by serving as fund advisors and recommending grants from their funds to their favorite charities. Donor Advised Fund participants also can co-invest with the Community Foundation in its competitive grantmaking. 

“We wanted to establish a fund where we would get some more guidance as to how we could help the fund grow,” Oldham said, when asked why she and her husband chose to work with the Community Foundation. 

Oldham wants her fund to grow because she wants to see Montgomery’s sickle cell clinic for children grow too. She dreams of the clinic, which currently must set up and break down after each service day at Baptist Medical Center, having a permanent space of its own, one that will feature décor and more to make the young patients feel more comfortable. 

“We want to make the clinic a place where children feel like they’re kids,” Oldham said. 

She also hopes the fund can help provide for more social workers or health care professionals who can go into schools and educate teachers about sickle cell disease. And she dreams of the clinic offering services on the weekend or the fund supporting access to tutors, so children don’t have to sacrifice learning for treatment. 

“Lilly loved school,” Oldham said of her daughter. “No matter how badly she felt she wanted to go to school. She loved her teachers. She did her homework even when she didn’t feel good. We didn’t have to push her.” 

Remembering Lilly and Miles 

Lawrence Miles Oldham Thompson passed away in May 2024 at the age of 39 (from causes not related to sickle cell disease). He was a graduate of Montgomery Academy High School and Morehouse College. He served as a vice president at JP Morgan Chase & Co. in Colorado and was a former associate vice president of Regions Bank in Alabama. 

Ann Oldham says that Miles and Lilly were very close despite not having similar personalities. 

“They were very different, but they were so good for each other,” she said. “He was the one that made her laugh, and she was the one that kept him in line.” 

Before his death, Miles and others set up Lilly’s Smile Fund to help support families in central Alabama with children fighting sickle cell disease. When Oldham and her husband set up a Donor Advised Fund with the Community Foundation, it only felt right to name it for their late son as well. 

“This particular fund has my son’s name on it because he really supported and loved his sister,” Oldham said. “He was very much a part of everything we did for her.” 

When his twin sister was sick, Miles was often at the hospital too, sometimes sleeping in her bed to help comfort her. 

“When one child is ill, it affects everybody,” Oldham said. “We had to eat dinner in the hospital many nights.” 

Despite the frequent hospital visits, Oldham and her husband worked to give Lilly a rich life. 

“She loved flowers, she loved rocks, she loved acorns and birds,” Oldham said of Lilly, who would have been 40 this year. After her death, Lilly’s classmates at Forest Avenue Academic Magnet School created a garden in her name. The Fund may also maintain that garden and another that is planned to provide places for children to find respite and inspiration in nature near their own communities in Montgomery.

Oldham hopes that with help from the Lilly and Miles Oldham Thompson Fund, the sickle cell clinic for children in Montgomery will help more children battling the disease live full lives. 

“They’re regular kids,” Oldham said of children with sickle cell disease. “They want to try new things and play sports, and I think we all – especially children – deserve to live a normal life as much as we possibly can.” 

Donate to the Lilly and Miles Oldham Thompson Fund

To learn more about setting up a Donor Advised Fund, contact our Philanthropic Services team. Giving Staff | Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham