When four-year-old Fletcher met Santa, he asked for monster trucks, drawing stuff, and more time snuggling his mum, Ali.
For this little Canberra family, Christmas will be spent in hospital. Heartbreakingly, it might be Ali’s last.
Instead of tinsel and festive cheer, Ali’s days will be marked by nurses, medical equipment and quiet hope for just one more good day with her boy.
Ali is the reason GIVEMAS matters.
In August, out of the blue, Ali became violently unwell, “Relentless vomiting,” she recalls. “I thought I must’ve had really bad food poisoning.”
The reality was far more devastating.
Stage 4 signet ring cell carcinoma, a rare and aggressive gastric cancer known for its near-silent progression, “It’s savage,” Ali says. “By the time it gets diagnosed, it’s usually too late.”
Looking back, she can see the subtle signs, like weight loss, fatigue and recurring irritable bowel syndrome.
But as a newly single mum navigating emotional upheaval, every symptom seemed easy to explain.
Now undergoing treatment and spending long stretches in hospital, Ali has found incredible support and care in the staff on Wards 10A and 14B.
“They are a unique breed of special,” she says. “They have all made Fletcher and I feel cared for.”
These are exactly the moments Canberra Hospitals Foundation seeks to create through GIVEMAS.
Ensuring Ali and all Canberrans spending Christmas in hospital, feel support, comfort and care.
GIVEMAS will guarantee Santa brings that monster truck Fletcher asked for.
When Ali is asked what she hopes her boy will remember from this time, her voice is quiet, “That he was loved so very much by his mummy.”
Ali has asked all Canberrans to embrace GIVEMAS this year.
“Be generous with what you can, whether it’s money, your time or your care. It makes a real difference.”
