17 hours ago
8yo gets wish after tumour found in kidney by ‘complete accident'
For Nick, watching his eight-year-old daughter perform onstage to over a hundred people, including Aussie actors, felt like a 'happy' end to a challenging chapter in her life.
'Seeing her on stage, seeing her happy, seeing her full of confidence, seeing her healthy … for family and friends who watched her go through the journey, it was a happy closure,' the father of four told
'She was an absolute star.'
Audrey had been diagnosed with Wilms tumour, a rare kidney cancer, by 'complete accident' three years earlier, after she was taken to hospital at five years old for what was thought to just be a case of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV).
What followed was a stage three cancer diagnosis and a difficult year of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
One thing that helped Audrey through it all was performing.
'From a very young age, she's loved doing performances for small audiences with friends,' said Nick.
'It's something she's focused on a lot over the last few years.'
It's why, when deciding on a wish by Make-A-Wish Australia – a charity which grants life-changing wishes for children and teens with critical illness – Audrey chose 'to put on a show for a HUGE audience'.
Over the next 18 months, she worked hard to write and direct her own play 'Escape of the Animals' – taking part in scriptwriting workshops, costume fittings and rehearsals.
The 20-minute production follows a dog who escapes with other animals to Hawaii to evade a 'mean dog owner'.
It was a fitting choice for the eight-year-old, who has always loved animals and dreams of one day becoming a vet.
'She put a lot of effort into it and I think she was probably quite nervous a few weeks (leading up to it),' said Nick.
On Thursday, Audrey's wish came true with the help of Make a Wish Australia and the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) when she took to the stage at ATYP's Rebel Theatre in Sydney alongside her twin brother, friend and other performers.
The cast performed to a crowd of 110 invited guests, including family, friends, and Aussie actors Stephen Curry, Claudia Karvan and Daniel Wyllie.
Other famous faces, including the Wiggles and comedian David Hughes, shared messages of support for Audrey, which were played aloud ahead of the performance.
'I feel happy and proud,' Audrey said after the show, which ended in a standing ovation.
'In one word, it was amazing,' said Nick.
'It was beyond anything that we could have imagined, anything that Audrey could have hoped for. The level of detail, effort, and care that Make A Wish put into it as well as the contributions from all the partners to make it happen was unbelievable.'
For Nick, it was a particularly meaningful moment, as just three years earlier, Audrey was in the hospital missing out on a different performance she desperately wanted to attend.
'She had to miss her end-of-year school concert because she was unwell … it was devastating,' said Nick.
'It was a hard thing seeing her miss out on a lot of things.'
Diagnosed with cancer at five by 'complete accident'
Audrey had been diagnosed with Wilms tumour when she was five years old, after her mother, Alice, took her to hospital with RSV symptoms in May 2022.
That night, Nick – who shares three other young children with Alice – was at home in Adelaide watching the federal election on television waiting for the pair to come home from the hospital.
But things took an unexpected turn when Alice called and said he needed to join them at the hospital.
'She said doctors found that there was something wrong with her kidney or an enlargement on her kidney which set off alarm bells for us,' Nick explained.
Knowing 'something wasn't right' but unsure of exactly what, Nick drove to hospital where Audrey was undergoing more tests.
Hours later, doctors told Nick and Alic 'they were very confident that it was a Wilms tumour'.
Audrey's cancer – a stage three tumour – was asymptomatic.
'It was found by complete accident,' said Nick, who explained her enlarged kidney was only discovered after a junior doctor took the time to carry out a physical on Audrey.
Nick and Alice were 'shell-shocked' by the news.
'When you hear about kids going through these things, you naturally don't really think it's ever going to happen to you or your child.'
Thankfully, Audrey's tumour was treatable and not aggressive.
A few days after the diagnosis, Audrey underwent a seven-hour operation, during which surgeons removed a 500-gram tumour in her kidney.
The five-year-old then underwent radiotherapy followed by eight to nine months of chemotherapy, the last of which ended in January 2023.
Throughout treatment, Audrey stopped putting on weight and lost her hair, which she was 'very upset about'.
But throughout it all, she never complained once.
'She took it in her stride … She was amazing, she was incredibly stoic,' said Nick.
'I think she sort of just accepted that she had a tough couple of months and she did. She was consistently brave.'
Audrey is now happily two years in remission.
While there is still a chance the cancer could come back, Audrey regularly receives check-ups and is 'comfortably through the higher risk stages of when it could return'.
After her performance and watching her wish come true, Audrey is looking to continue acting and has already booked into an acting camp with her friend.
But her dream of becoming a vet is still very much on the cards.
'She would do everything,' said Nick.
'Vet by day, actor by night.'
