Behind The Wish: Selina Quach

I was born and raised in Sydney. I haven’t lived anywhere else. I am part of the South West Sydney Branch.

I live with my little brother and two cats. I have three brothers.

I did a commerce degree at university, and I work as a financial investigator for a Federal Government regulatory agency.

Outside of work I enjoy doing a lot of random sports. I have tried lots of different sports. Oztag, dodgeball, Futsal, basketball, netball. And I want to try a mini version of tennis: padel.

I like puzzle solving, solving things. I think that goes to what I do for work, where I work as an investigator.

I enjoy spending a lot of time with my family, friends and my partner especially in the last few months when I have had some tough times. My family in particular are my rocks, and I am very close with my siblings. One of them has just got married.

I like a lot of psychology things, analysing movies and reading the odd book.

Picture: Selina with her three brothers and their partners.

Make-A-Wish definitely has had a very meaningful impact on me. I think we do talk about a lot of the happy times the wishes bring but there is also sadness and the serious nature of what goes on behind the wish.

We don’t talk about the medical conditions with the families, but we do know there is sadness and sometimes the kids pass away. Naturally, it really impacts you.

It’s quite profound the impact.

It does involve the suffering and hard times. But the happy and special times are even more poignant.

The kindness and selflessness of people and the community and seeing them all coming together is really special.

Sometimes things happen that don’t make sense and are not fair, but there are also special moments and Make-A-Wish provide some of them.

I think Make-A-Wish has impacted my level of empathy.

I have always been an empathetic person, but I think seeing these sorts of things happen and meeting kids face-to-face you understand their stories and their hopes and dreams.

It is more impactful than hearing these things from a third party. It enhances your empathy.

I think there are a lot of crossovers between Make-A-Wish and my job. I think trying to understand a child and their wish you are kind of putting pieces of a puzzle together. And part of my work is understanding motives and understanding why people do things. There is definitely a crossover between Make-A-Wish and my professional career. I think empathy and perspective you also need those skills, when you are investigating people.

I feel honoured and privileged to be part of a child’s special wish.

It means a lot to them and their families, given what they are going through, so being a part of that makes me feel happy.

Being part of a wish day is definitely a unique high. It’s a sense of fulfilment.

You do want to share what you see. I share photos and things with my family. You debrief with the volunteer team.

When you share something like a wish with another volunteer it creates a bond between you. You just know you both have the same values.

I did have a friend who I didn’t even know was in Make-A-Wish until I joined. She was in the same Branch as me.

I had another one who wanted to join because she knew I was doing it.

Picture (left): Selina with Wish kid Genevieve.