When four-year-old Oliver woke up one morning and said, "Mummy, I can't sit up," his mum Belinda never imagined the trauma that lay ahead.
Within a few hours, he was in such excruciating pain that Belinda took him to the local hospital. By the following morning, Oliver was unable to walk and he was taken to a children’s hospital in a special ambulance.
Belinda recalls the fear and devastation facing the unknown head on. "It was a blur of uncertainty; tests, scans, needles and doctors desperately trying to control Oliver’s pain."
Tests ultimately showed that Oliver had Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) a rare neurological disorder where the body's immune system mistakenly attacks the nervous system. Oliver was paralysed from the shoulders down but thankfully could breathe on his own.
Belinda said the diagnosis left them shattered.
"No one could tell us what our road to recovery looked like - days, weeks, months, was he ever going to full recover? I cried for days," said Belinda.
From that moment on, hospital became their life. Oliver's baby brother Will was only nine months old and Belinda said it was heartbreaking being apart from him and her husband Ryan.
"I was in intensive care with Oliver for days on end, unable to leave his bedside. It was very tough to have to leave my little breastfed baby at home to live in the hospital."
Oliver suffered terrible pain and feared the constant needles and blood pressure tests in hospital.
Amid the family's unbearable sadness, Captain Starlight arrived, and Belinda said the impact on Oliver was instant.
"The Captains made Oliver laugh for the first time since he'd been admitted," she said. "Once he was well enough to go in a wheelchair, we would bribe him to get out of his hospital bed to go to see Captain Starlight in the Starlight Express Room."
The Starlight Express Room helped Oliver cope with the scary world of hospital. He loved playing games, having his face painted and dressing up as a superhero just like Captain Starlight! When extended family visited Oliver in hospital, they also enjoyed the fun and respite of the Starlight Express Room too. In fact, Oliver's grandpa was always the last person to leave the Starlight Express Room when he was caring for Oliver and his nan was affectionately known as 'Super Nan' by the Captains!
"Without Starlight we would not have survived those long months in hospital," Belinda said. "Captain Starlight broke up the day, made Oliver smile, gave me a break and gave our family something to look forward to."
Despite everything he was going through, Oliver still had his smile, loved joking around and tried his best to stay upbeat.
His ongoing treatment involved speech therapy, hydrotherapy and physiotherapy. Belinda said being able to play and be active in the Starlight Express Room helped his physical therapy.
"A lot of Oliver's physical gains were made in the Starlight Express Room. He happily moved and crawled around and didn't even realise he was doing rehab!" she said.
Swimming was also a big part of Oliver's recovery and when he was granted his Starlight Wish last year, he wanted to swim like a dolphin! On their QLD adventure, the family patted dolphins at SeaWorld, went to Wet’n’Wild and fed wild dolphins off Morton Island. It was a special time for them to relax and reconnect and for Oliver to enjoy some fun in the water with his brothers.
Starlight helped Oliver create happy memories during a traumatic time in his childhood. He often talks about the fun he had in hospital with Captain Starlight and remembers special events like the Starlight Christmas pantomime.
While hospital remains part of Oliver's life, Belinda is so thankful Starlight is there for them.
"Starlight is invaluable. Oliver has so many good memories of our time in hospital which is so important as it is very easy to get caught up in how horrible it was. I can't imagine how we would have coped without the amazing Captain Starlights."
