Beyond The Wish: Levi
Levi always had a rare talent for repairing motorbikes so wished for a shed he could tinker away in. It was also a place he could seek solitude in as he recovered from leukaemia.
What is Beyond The Wish?
Beyond The Wish is our series that explores the long-lasting and meaningful impact of a wish, years after it has been granted.
Fixing broken motorbike unlocks new passion
Levi’s mum Vee realised her son could fix motorbikes the first time he repaired a broken bike and was riding it around the family’s trampoline.
“He just felt so empowered,” Vee recalled.
From there, Levi’s passion for fixing motorbikes grew. And so did the space he needed for his hobby.
It wasn’t long before the family’s indoor alfresco room was home to a handful of bikes in various stages of repair.
Picture: Levi on the first motorbike he fixed.
'Brutal' injections on medical journey
Unsurprisingly, Levi’s wish was for a shed so that he would finally have the space to repair motorbikes.
The realisation of his wish in 2022, not long after his 16th birthday, came after a challenging medical journey.
Levi got sick at age 11. Swollen glands and a couple of bruises concerned no one until the diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia was confirmed.
What Levi remembers most about his three and a bit years of treatment was the pain.
Injections caused physical pain, while steroid tablets affected his emotions.
“The injections were brutal,” Vee said.
“I felt sometimes that I had to force him to do the very thing that I didn't want him to do because it was the best thing for him.”
A place of solitude
When Levi was outlining his wish for a shed, he was very specific.
He asked for a long, sweeping workbench at the rear and he needed new tools so he could continue his favourite pastime of repairing motorbikes.
“The shed opened up a whole new window of opportunity for learning and doing something that I actually love,” Levi said.
But along with the bench and the tools, Levi had another must-have: a garage roller door.
Some days after he had endured chemotherapy, Levi would head into the shed and turn the light on. The roller door would then close, leaving the world outside.
“It was my happy place, it was a place of comfort,” Levi said.
Vee said Levi would head to the shed when he was feeling low and sit on a beanbag.
“When he wanted to be on his own, he could be. It gave him solitude,” she said.
Shed the place for bikes and birthdays
Levi is adamant the shed helped him develop his mechanical skills which ultimately led to his first full-time job as a diesel mechanic.
The 18-year-old second year apprentice works 50 hours a week honing his craft to enable him to fix any vehicles that stop working suddenly, including trucks, trains and cranes.
The shed is still home to a few bikes Levi is repairing when work commitments allow.
The shed also came in handy when Levi’s family threw one big party for his and his sister Maya’s 18th and 21st birthdays.
“A wish is something that will always be remembered,” Levi said.
“I think when you come through the other side and beat your illness, the wish is the cherry on top.”
