Amelia was only four years old when she started going through some awful times. A friendly little girl, she suddenly became very unhappy. Amelia didn’t want to go to pre-school any more. One morning, she came out of her bedroom and couldn’t walk straight. There was a sense of urgency to all of her tests in hospital, a lot of fear and anxiety. Amelia was first in hospital for three weeks.
Turns out Amelia suffered from a rare auto-immune condition that affects one child in ten million. She also had a tumour on her adrenal gland. This gland sits on the kidneys, but the condition ‘confused’ Amelia’s immune system into attacking her brain. You can imagine how seriously ill the condition made her. Every day she needed a very high dose of steroids and every month a ten hour infusion of antibodies, treatment which took all her strength.
Starlight gave the family a reprieve from the pain and heartache by granting Amelia a Starlight Wish. Amelia is a keen painter and wanted to work with a famous Australian artist and have her artwork hung in the State Gallery! Amelia was very excited about her upcoming wish and became animated, friendly and outgoing – a far cry from how she felt during treatment.
On exhibition day, a beautiful new princess dress arrived for Amelia to wear, and after having her hair done, she and her family all took a limousine ride to the Art Gallery of New South Wales! There, Amelia’s fabulously bright collection of artwork was hanging on the wall. After a function to open the exhibition, Amelia personally signed posters for her friends and guests to take home.
“She had the most wonderful day of her life. The whole Starlight experience has restored her confidence, and brought joy back to her life. All of our lives.”- Amelia’s mum Kara says of her daughter’s Wish day.
