The wish 26 years ago that Amy can still smell
When Amy was diagnosed with a brain tumour, she lost her hair, her friends and her appetite.
But rediscovering food led to a wish: travelling to Italy to learn how to cook. Twenty-six years later, her family’s pizza oven remains a lasting reminder of that wish.
Food the first step in Amy's recovery
Amy’s wish was 21 years ago but almost every time she visits her parents’ place, she can still smell it.
At 15, after being diagnosed with a brain tumour, Amy lost her appetite. She was so unwell she could barely stand the sight of food.
That changed when her family found a local Italian restaurant, where Amy began rediscovering food through pasta and pizza dishes.
Amy’s wish was to go to Tuscany to learn to cook the Italian cuisine she fell in love with.
On her return from Tuscany, she persuaded her father to build a woodfire pizza oven in their backyard.
“And then I made him change the whole backyard so it would look like Tuscany,” Amy said.
Amy’s family has since moved, but the pizza oven — and the aromas of Tuscany — remain.
“We still have pizza nights with friends and family, using the dough recipe we brought home from Italy,” Amy said.
Radiation phase 'worst part of my life'
Amy was born with the genetic condition Neurofibromatosis type 1, which led to her brain tumour being discovered when she was 8 years old.
“I nearly died due to the pressure on the brain,” Amy said.
“Because of where it was, they could not take the tumour out. So, I had a shunt put in in my brain and it was fine from 8 until I was 15.
“At 15 when I was just having my regular yearly MRIs, they found that parts of the tumour had turned malignant and had started to grow.”
Doctors decided on three months of radiation to be administered daily.
“That was the worst time,” Amy said.
“I was put on steroids to stop my brain from swelling up.
“I had a massive face, like a moon face. I was tired, and I was sick from the radiation and from the medication.
“It was like an integral time to be a teenager, and I basically had no friends. My best friend, who's still my best friend to this day, stayed my friend, but everybody else didn't want anything to do with me because I had basically no hair from the radiation and I had a huge face from the medication.”
While she did lose some friends, Amy also made new ones.
It was like an integral time to be a teenager, and I basically had no friends
Amy, wish child
Wish revealed in favourite restaurant
Amy’s wish was revealed in the same restaurant that helped her rediscover her appetite.
“My family took me out to the restaurant, and I saw the Make-A-Wish volunteers Emma and Margaret, and my radiation doctor was there too, but I didn’t put two and two together,” Amy said.
“I didn’t realise they were there for a reason. But then I remember being presented with my wish and it was just amazing.”
New surrounds give Amy hope
Amy was still unwell when she and her family travelled to Italy, moving through the airport in slow, careful steps.
But before long, Amy began to smile.
“As soon as I got to Tuscany it all changed and I was so in awe of this incredible country and the food and the people,” Amy said.
“I think it was just a point in my life where I knew I was going to remember it forever. And I do.
“Out of everything, I think my wish gave me hope. It was a time where I could forget that I was a sick kid.
“I could forget everything that's happening and just kind of immerse myself in the culture, the people, and the food of Italy. It was just something I'll never forget.”
While in Tuscany, Amy and her mum did a cooking course over three days.
At the same time Amy’s sister and dad would go to the market and buy food that Amy and her mum would cook later.
Making a difference in hospital wards
Returning to Australia, Amy defied medical opinion that she would be too sick to finish high school or go to university.
Her goal was to study nursing: a goal she attained.
“I basically knew what a good nurse was, and how a good nurse made me feel. And I wanted to do that for somebody else,” Amy said.
“I was still pretty sick at that time, so it did take me four years to finish university instead of three, but that's because I did it more slowly
“The very first day of uni, actually, they were like, ‘Oh, so what kind of nursing do you want to do?’ and I was like, ‘I'm going to be an oncology nurse in an oncology day unit’.”
Amy was an oncology nurse for eight years before moving into infection control. In 2026 she works in a GP practice.
“I just want to be that person that's there to help patients and make a difference,” she said.
“When I was working in oncology, I had a patient that nominated me for Nurse of the Year. And I got to the finals, so the final six.
“The patient was quite sad and anxious, and she said I just made the difference for her at a time she needed it.”
'The wish changed my life'
Amy’s love affair with Italy has continued since her wish trip in 2005.
Amy and her family have visited Italy a number of times but a few years ago they returned to the town in Tuscany – Donnini – where Amy’s wish unfolded.
“I felt joyful returning to Donnini,” Amy said. “I felt this place had changed my life.”
Amy believes Make-A-Wish also played a key role in changing her life.
“Make-A-Wish made me strong,” she said.
“The wish changed my life, basically.
“I went from being a sick kid feeling like I had nothing. I had no friends, I was 15, had lost my hair and I felt really ugly to getting my wish, which has just changed my entire life.
“It gave me hope. And I don't care how old I'm going to be, I'll always be a Make-A-Wish kid.”
