In Dec 2015 when we were told Roberto had leukaemia I remember reading that for most children’s leukaemia the prognosis was so good that the children did not qualify for a ‘wish’ – I remember holding onto that the first few weeks.  Then Roberto was not responding to treatment well enough and his type of leukaemia was rarer and harder to treat so treatment was elongated and intensified.  Those few months were about putting one foot in front of the other and when I suggested to Roberto we request a wish he didn’t want anything…. I remember thinking he felt no hope, no belief he could feel well enough to enjoy anything…. 
Then in November a friend of ours (Derek Halpenny) ran a half marathon for Starlight and Roberto piped up he was interested in a wish …… We applied…. Its hard to put into words the joy I felt to be at a point where Roberto had hope….. and that Starlight was helping him feel life was worth living.

And Starlight then delivered… not only the most amazing wish
but experiences and treats through 3 long years of chemotherapy – in their own words ‘When one of the people you love most in the world gets seriously ill, it’s hard to think about anything else. It’s there
when you wake up in the morning, when you try to get to sleep at night – and often when you lie awake at night too. At our Starlight Escapes, we do everything we can to take away those worries for a day. It’s a chance for everyone to have fun, press the reset button and find new strength to keep going’ from our pirate day (Thames Ditton boat club’s generosity) to trip to O2 to see marvel heroes….. these things gave us memories and chances for others to
carry the burden for a day/evening…..

And then Roberto's wish….  7 days before he finished chemotherapy we visited Fulham Football Club as their guests and Roberto met Alexander Mitrovic….. it was a magical day, made special by the generosity of Fulham Football club and of Alexander himself who was kind and compassionate – at the end of the day Roberto’s response was ‘Mum, that was the best day of my life, and it almost made having leukaemia worth it’.  Starlight made this possible. 

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