A Winter Warmer of Wishes
Make-A-Wish grants the most wishes ever in a single snow season, with 38 wish kids and their families hitting the slopes!
Tis' the Ski-son
For the first time in Make-A-Wish Australia’s history, 38 amazing wish kids and their families travelled to the snow, to have their winter wishes granted!
Just as no two snowflakes are the same, our wish kids are individual, and their wishes unique. From husky rides to visits from Santa and non-stop shredding the slopes, our wish kids enjoyed a blizzard of activities.
So snap on your ski boots and join us on the chairlift for an epic view of this year’s snow-themed wishes, which all began with eight wish families at Melbourne Airport on 15 July.
The Chronicles of Jade’s Wish
Inspired by the children’s fantasy-adventure books-turned-films, ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ by C.S.Lewis, 10-year-old Jade wished “to go to the snow like in Narnia”. Witnessing a snowy winter landscape, roasting marshmallows on a fire, and riding a toboggan – these are all the things that Jade imagined when she thought of Narnia.
Hearing about Jade’s atypical teratoid and rhabdoid tumour, Aslan the Lion, wanted to ensure that Jade would experience all the magic of Narnia, and asked our Make-A-Wish volunteers to bring her some gifts in Anticipation of her wish, including: a box of turkish delight, a lion brooch for bravery, and special snow cupcakes.
After travelling up to Mount Hotham Alpine Resort (located in the Victorian Alps of the Great Dividing Range) with the other wish families, Jade woke up the following morning, to a picturesque landscape powdered in fresh snow.
Jade and her family packed every snow-activity they could into their five-day snow-liday, including Ski Lessons. As an extra special marshmallow in her hot chocolate, Jade also celebrated her 11th birthday during her wish!
Patrick’s Gnome-Obsessed Snow Quest
Patrick is a cheeky and outgoing 9-year-old who was diagnosed with pilocytic astrocytoma (brain tumour) and loves Gnomes! In fact, he’s got a collection of ten Gnomes arranged in the garden and has asked his dad to set up a light to shine on them when it gets dark, in case they get scared. And because every child’s wish is unique, Patrick received a very special Gnomey gift during his wish “to go to the snow and make snow angels and have snow fights with my family”.
For his wish, Patrick, plus his mum, dad, and older sister spent two days at Corin Forest Mountain Resort, located in the Tidbinbilla Mountain Ranges just 45 minutes from the heart of Canberra. The family enjoyed time together playing in the snow, building snowmen, and tobogganing; making cherished memories that will last a lifetime.
Whilst at Corin Forest, Patrick received a hand-knit snow Gnome from the grandmother of a Make-A-Wish staff member; a thoughtful gift to celebrate Patrick’s interests and a wonderful reminder of his snow wish.
It makes such a huge difference to have something positive and hopeful to look forward to.
Jade, Eve's mum
A Snow-tacular Time for Eve
In August, another group of wish families travelled to Mount Hotham Alpine Resort, including 9-year-old Eve, with her mum, dad, and younger brother. Only ever experiencing the snow through movies, confident and cheeky Eve wished “to go to the snow for the first time”.
Because Eve pictured staying in a wooden cabin, the family stayed in the Hotham Sun Apartment’s ‘Cedar & Stone Chalet’: a wood cabin straight out of a Hollywood winter romance. Across five days, Eve and her family did everything that Eve had imagined for her wish, including wrapping one of her mum’s scarves around a snowman and learning to ski.
Jade, Eve’s mum said that the wish provided her family with something that had been absent since Eve’s journey through acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, “The impact of the wish has been ‘joy’, which was sorely missing for a long period of time.”
Awooo-nderful Wish for Olive
Shortly after Olive was born, she was diagnosed with a medical condition that narrows the airways called complex airway stenosis. Following multiple reconstructive surgeries that often left the family in hospital for months at a time, 11-year-old Olive wanted nothing more than “to go snowboarding and sled dog riding" together with her family.
When the topic of snow dogs came up during her Wish Capture, Olive’s face lit up like a Christmas tree! Thrilled by the idea of meeting a husky, it became clear that Olive was ready to ski into the paw-some world of dog-sledding.
On the family’s stay at Mount Hotham Alpine Resort, Olive and her family learnt how to shred the slopes during their Snowboard Lessons, and enjoyed an enchanting ride through the backcountry trails courtesy of the Howling Husky Sled Dog Tours.
