Wishes are still being lit up despite COVID-19 postponement

• The local Casey community in Melbourne is banding together to help make Hannah’s wish come true
• A partnership between Blooms The Chemist and Make-A-Wish Australia will see the Sydney Vivid light show come to life in Hannah’s own backyard

With COVID-19 wiping out most major events last year, community enthusiasm remains high and has not stopped locals coming together in Melbourne to ensure a young girl’s wish comes true.

Blooms The Chemist, together with Make-A-Wish Australia, who continue to make the wishes of sick children come true through local communities’ support, will be ‘lighting up the night’ in the Melbourne suburb of Casey to help Hannah’s wish come true.

Hannah has dreams of attending the Vivid light festival in Sydney, a wish that Make-A-Wish has been working hard to make come true. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, last year that wish had to be postponed. With the future of Vivid 2021 still unknown, Make-A-Wish will take a little bit of Vivid to surprise Hannah with an immersive light display in her very own backyard.

At birth, Hannah was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome with Amye-Gripp syndrome. A pericardial effusion, which is excess fluid surrounding the heart, which can result in stillbirths or difficulties breathing. At the young age of seven, Hannah has already overcome four open-heart surgeries.

“Hannah loves everything with lights,” said Richard, Hannah’s father. “She has a sensory room at school and she adores it. Despite our Sydney trip being put on hold, the volunteers at Make-A-Wish have ensured that there is still that anticipation that the wish will happen by gifting her with toys that light up.”

When Andrew Leslie, Pharmacist-owner at Blooms The Chemist Casey Central, heard Hannah’s story, he was desperate to support. “The main focus of our local chemist is to not only offer exceptional healthcare services to our customers, but to also support and connect with our community the best we can. We’re already strong advocates and supporters of Make-A-Wish, conducting multiple fundraisers a year, so when we heard about Hannah and her story, we jumped at the opportunity to help make her wish come true.”

In addition to Hannah’s own light show, the Blooms The Chemist network of over 100 pharmacies across Australia have also been invited to ‘light up’ for Hannah in any way they can.

Hannah’s family have been overwhelmed with the ongoing support from their local community. “We are so blessed to be a part of a wonderful, close knit community. Our local Blooms The Chemist has also sent Hannah a Wish Pack, and when we popped in to thank them, the entire staff had learnt basic sign language so they could communicate with her,” said Richard.

“It’s such a privilege to be able to support Hannah with this very special wish,” said Sally Bateman, CEO, Make-A-Wish Australia. “It’s been incredibly humbling for all of us to see that despite the challenging nature of the past year, the community, our volunteers and partners such as Blooms The Chemist have been unwavering in their support of our Wish kids and helping us to finding new ways to make wishes possible.”

Pamela Bishop, CMO, Blooms The Chemist, is excited to involve its pharmacy network to support Hannah. “It’s wonderful to be a part of a great initiative to see our community pharmacies come together and help light up Hannah’s life. This also couldn’t have come at a better time, with us reaching a milestone of raising $1 million thanks to our pharmacies and their work fundraising in their local communities for Make-A-Wish.”
The ongoing impact of COVID-19 continues to delay wishes coming to fruition and is felt across all of the kids Make-A-Wish supports, with over 800 wishes currently still in waiting.

“We are very grateful for the generosity, kindness and support of Blooms The Chemist. To have raised $1 Million through their community fundraising, is a testament to the passion of their incredible people across their vast local pharmacy network. With Blooms The Chemist’s support, we look forward to bringing more smiles and moments of joy to our wish kids and together making many more wishes possible in the years ahead,” said Sally.

For more information on the partnership between Blooms The Chemist and Make-A-Wish, visit https://www.bloomsthechemist.com.au/make-a-wish