This week, Mix94.5’s Pete & Kymba with Ben Cousins made dreams come true for some of the kids from Perth Children’s Hospital Foundation – with the help of local NBL team the Wildcats.
The Mighty Cats were two teams made up of youngsters from the Foundation, who’ve endured terrible illness and hardship in their lives.
The two Mighty Cats teams got to play basketball against one another during half time at the Perth Wildcats vs Brisbane Bullets game.
For so many of them, the chance to run out onto a basketball court in front of a full house at RAC Arena was surreal.
Although the team coached by Ben Cousins won, everyone on court was a winner.
Among those to take part was four and a half year old Charlie, who has cystic fibrosis.
Charlie’s mum Marlene said “We’re really grateful for Charlie to be included in activities like this. Living with cystic fibrosis can be tricky at times, but Perth Children’s Foundation really supports our family and events like this give them things to look forward to.”
Then there’s Nora who, when she was just 8 months old, woke up paralysed from the neck down due to neuroblastoma, a rare and aggressive cancer that targets nerve cells.
Now nine years old, Nora is thriving and regaining her strength. Nora’s mum Naomi said “Watching Nora run down the court, it was so emotional when she had the ball, and I was nervous for her, because she never played basketball. And then to see her go for a shot and get it in, the emotions just flooded my body as I’m tearing up now.”
“It was just an amazing moment, and I know that she will be so proud, and from where she’s come from, eight months old, not being able to walk, to today, having this opportunity to run down that court and shoot a basketball in a hoop that is used by professionals is just amazing.”
“Thank you for giving us that opportunity. It will be a memory we’ll keep forever.”
Mix94.5 host Kymba Cahill said “My favourite part is how much they all gave each other a chance. They all shared the ball as soon as they saw someone who didn’t have an opportunity yet. They passed the ball to them. Sometimes, they just handed it directly to them. And it was amazing that they all got a shot.”