Articles from 2005
Claire’s very special Christmas
Woman's Day | January 3, 2005
Christmas came in a tidal wave of fan to 5000 very special kids. Amid a swirling blaze of flashing Christmas lights, spinning rides, laughing clowns, and giant slides, the needy children and their families flocked to the Sydney Showground for the ultimate Christmas party, where wishes were granted in abundance.
A very grateful and excited seven-year-old Claire Lincoln got the biggest surprise of all, thanks to the generosity of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Little Claire’s been very sick with bone cancer. Her extensive treatment – a year of chemo and some radiation – has meant many heartbreaking days away from Mum and Dad.
All Claire wanted was to have some special time with her family, and with the wave of a magic wand from Make-A-Wish, she found herself standing on stage with Bessie Bardot, being told she and her family were going on a wonderful holiday to Linderman Island.
But the Queensland island holiday was just the icing on the cake. The previous day, Claire opened the door of her outer western Sydney home to find her hero Nikki Webster had dropped by to pay her a surprise visit.
Nikki and an excited Claire spent the morning enjoying girl-talk and music. “This is all so wonderful,” said Claire’s elated mum Veronica, 37. “We’re just so humbled by this. We haven’t been able to spend a lot of time together, so this is the ultimate Christmas present – it’s going to bring our family so much happiness!”
But Claire wasn’t the only one on the receiving end of some wonderful Christmas surprises. “We want to make all these great kids feel special,” said a beaming Michael Caton, best known as warm-hearted and ever-proud dad Darryl Kerrigan in The Castle. “It’s fantastic to be involed with Make-A-Wish. It does such great work with kids who’re doing it tough. And at this time of year, I couldn’t think of a better thing to do than bring the magic of Christmas to kids who might otherwise have a pretty ordinary Christmas.”
Michael joined Woman’s Day editor Alana House and Bessie Bardot, who was dressed as a yellow fairy, in handing out a mountain of toys to some very grateful and clearly excited kids.
Woman’s Day is a prime supporter of Make-A-Wish, and Alana – along with the fun-loving team from the Day – was on hand to spread some much-needed Christmas cheer. And judging by the children’s faces, beaming as they clutched their presents and screaming with delight on the rides, that much-needed cheer was overflowing.
The day was also very special for Bessie, whose brother suffers from cerebral palsy. “I think ‘Special Children’ is a very important focus for us all,” she told Woman’s Day. “Especially around this time of year. I think all children should be looked after at Christmas, and often the ‘special’ kids are forgotten. But not today! Today’s a wonderful day, not only for these kids, but also for their wonderful parents.”