It take many qualities to become a great actor. Talent. Star power. Dedication. Although immense courage in the face of a life-threatening illness is not usually considered a criterion for stardom, more’s the pity. If it were, the Academy could start polishing a Best Actress Oscar now and inscribing upon it the name Feride Nakhle.
“All her life, she has dreamed of being an actress,” says 11-year-old Feride’s mum, Berna. Yet when she was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer after a lump was found on her jaw in August 2007, that dream was put on hold. “Now, thanks to the Starlight Children’s Foundation and Catriona Rowntree, her dream is within her grasp.”
When Starlight, which brightens the lives of children and young people living with serious and chronic illness through a variety of programs, learned that Feride, from Guildford in Sydney, was undergoing chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery to remove part of her jaw and replace it with bone from her hip, the charity arranged for her to have acting lessons.
In class, despite often feeling weak and nauseous after chemotherapy, Feride, who is determined to win an audition for Neighbours, has proved herself a trouper with talent. “At first, she was shy,” says Berna, 38. “She was the youngest there. But everyone accepted her and now she just gets in there and acts. She’s a natural. She told me, ‘Mum, when I’m in front of a camera, I don’t feel tired anymore.’ “
Enter Catriona Rowntree. The Getaway host, who has long pitched in for the Starlight Children’s Foundation, invited Feride to a Getaway shoot at Sydney’s World Wildlife Park.
“Even though she’d just been having chemo that morning, she struck me as an amazing child with star quality, beautiful manners and compassion,” says Catriona, who nicknamed Ferides “Fairy”. “I said, ‘Fairy, can you help me present this story?’ Could she! She threw herself into the filming like an old hand. She patted a koala, fed the birds and released butterflies.
After being with her, my heart soared and I thought, ‘I’ll never complain about another thing as long as I live’. I know she’ll be my friend for life. Why do these terrible things happen to the most beautiful people?”
Yet, although Feride is smiling again, her battle is far from over. “There’ll be seven days of chemotherapy spread over the next six weeks. After that, we hope, remission,” says Berna. “Through it all, by helping Feride to act and introducing her to Catriona, Starlight has given her and us a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Feride is one of more than 200,000 Australian children aged four to 18 who, with their families, benefit each year from Starlight programs. As well as granting the fondest-held wishes of seriously ill children (around 450 a year), Starlight offers hospital programs designed to strengthen the spirit through laughter.
These include Starlight Fun Centres, mobile entertainment units that visit the patient’s bedside, Starlight Express Rooms, where Captain Starlight, a superhero from Planet Starlight, entertains the children, and rocket-shaped Starlight Express vans that zoom Captain Starlight to hospitals in metropolitan, regional and remote areas of Australia.
Out of hospital, Starlight Escapes provide children and their families with a much-needed break from the stress of a child’s illness, perhaps a night at the movies or a weekend away, supporting them and connecting them with others.
This year, Starlight — which relies on donations from the public and business, volunteers and celebrities including Catriona, Lleyton Hewitt, Delta Goodrem, The Veronicas, Kate Ritchie, Kieren Perkins and other sporting stars — celebrates its 20th year. It marked the occasion by granting a record 152 wishes last Christmas.
Like the Nakhles, the Brown family of Melbourne don’t look like heroes, just a knockabout bunch who work hard, love their sport and one another, but they are heroes.
Murray, 15, suffers from cystic fibrosis (CF), a crippling disease of the lungs and digestive system. His brother Geoff, 24, also has CF. Mum Sue is stricken with multiple sclerosis and dad Neil has motor neurone disease. Sue and Neil lost a son, Scott, aged three months, to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Too much, you’d think, for any family to bear. “What else can we do but battle on?” says Murray, who has been hospitalised 14 times in the past five years. “We deal with it. We’ll get by. We’re a loving family. We’re each other’s heroes.”
Lleyton Hewitt’s, too. When Starlight told Lleyton that Murray’s dream was to meet him, the champion dropped everything to hang out with the tennis-mad youngster and even played Top Spin virtual tennis on Xbox — won by Murray! “Lleyton,” says Murray, “has given me a reason to stay alive.” The tennis champ returns serve. “Murray’s a tough, brave kid,” he says. “Never have I seen him show pain or complain. He says I inspire him, fighting back from two sets to love down, but that’s only a tennis match and nothing compares to what he’s up against. If being his mate makes him feel good, to me, that’s better than winning Wimbledon. I inspire him? He inspires me.”
“Getting to know Lleyton is the highlight of Murray’s life,” says Neil, 50. Sue, also 50, agrees. “When Murray is going through one of his rough periods, he remembers that he’s Lleyton’s friend and he can still smile,” she says. “Whatever the future holds, his life has been better because his wish was granted. Seeing him fight has inspired the rest of us not to give in to our illnesses. We’re fighters. There’s no time for tears.”
Recovered cancer sufferer and devoted Starlight wish-granter Delta Goodrem knows this better than most. When Delta was being treated for Hodgkin’s disease, she continued to grant the wishes of unwell youngsters. She says their “courage, determination to get better and ability to be happy no matter what”, made her want to try even harder to recover.
Other very sick kids have been given the chance to go horse-riding in the Snowy Mountains, sit in the cockpit of an RAAF jet, drive go-karts, swim with dolphins, visit theme parks, soar in hot-air balloons and attend the ballet. Some have even woken up to find a rocketship cubby in their backyard.
“A Starlight wish gives a child and their family something to look forward to each day, from the excitement of deciding what to wish for, to planning the wish and then having the wish come to fruition,” says Starlight chief executive officer Jill Weekes. “Then there are the lifelong memories for the child and the whole family. “Although Starlight programs reach many children throughout Australia, there are more than 600,000 admissions to hospitals each year, so today, we are only able to reach one in three — our aim is to enable every family access to these innovative programs for the duration of the child’s illness.”
Serious illness spares no family member and diagnosis is only the beginning of the journey endured by the families of sick children: months, sometimes years of watching a loved one undergo painful and invasive treatment, the grinding worry, the crippling cost, the unavoidable neglect of other family members, the dislocation due to long periods in hospital.
“Captain Starlight keeps Murray’s spirits up,” says Sue, “Starlight gives us the moral support and respite to keep going.”
Madison Marsh, 15, of western Sydney, has cerebral palsy-spastic quadriplegia, a brain condition that causes uncontrolled muscle spasms in the arms and legs. Yet while Madison relies on a wheelchair and a walking frame, her illness cannot hamper her love of life, wildlife and the music of her idol, Delta Goodrem. When Starlight learned of Madison’s dream, they told Delta and, last Christmas, she met Madison. Now, Madison and her family are enjoying a longed-for adventure holiday at Port Douglas in Far North Queensland, provided by the Starlight Children’s Foundation.
“We’ve just had a swim and breakfast among the tropical birds,” says Madison’s dad, Phil, 52. “We’re off to a rainforest this afternoon. Madison has been to a crocodile farm and, yesterday, we all went out to the Barrier Reef. It’s everything Madison dreamed. She can’t take the grin off her face — and nor can the rest of us.”
To volunteer or donate to the Starlight Children’s Foundation, visit www.starlight.org.au or phone 1300 727 827.
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