Now he’s battled cancer, kind Kiwis can help his wish come true.

New Year’s Eve, 2020. Like most people in Aotearoa, Lisa Dick, husband Matt and their five children couldn’t wait to see the back of a year of pandemic and lockdowns. They organised a family party in the lounge – hauled in mattresses, watched movies and began counting down to a happier new year.

Except they weren’t the same as many Kiwi families. That August, Freddie – then aged 6 – had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and was undergoing chemotherapy and blood transfusions. If his temperature rose, his parents knew they had an hour to get him to Dunedin Hospital.

“We’re watching the movies with Freddie beside me, and my husband and I could tell his temperature was going up,” Lisa recalls. “Sure enough, we had to go to the hospital. We bundled everyone into the car. As I was driving I turned on National Radio so I could hear the clock turn over, so I could acknowledge the new year.

“I could see fireworks going off, and here we were in the car making our way to hospital. I thought, ‘Bloody 2020. Worst year ever. Couldn’t catch a break’.”

As we approach Christmas again four years later, Lisa can laugh. It’s been a “very long road” for her family. Freddie, now 11, has completed treatment. He’s finishing Year 6 at Sawyers Bay School: a milestone for a youngster who missed two years’ schooling and everyday life. His energy level was extremely low, meaning he needed daily medication and was extremely vulnerable to picking up an infection.

“He’s bounced back really well and he’s had a really good year,” Lisa says. “He’s attended pretty regularly and picked up his friendships, which are hard to maintain when you’re unwell, when you can’t see people. He’s fit enough to play his sports again.”

That’s full-on: football in winter, underwater hockey with the family club, swimming and futsal in summer. “We’ve got our Freddie back,” says his mum.

And that’s not all Freddie plays. During his illness, Lisa applied for a grant to buy him an electronic drum kit and a year’s lessons – therapy for him, and the family.

“If you have a sick child, that’s all anyone ever asks about. People are being kind but it feels like every conversation is about where they’re at with their treatment and how they’re feeling. The drum kit was something really positive for him to focus on – they’re really good because it takes coordination and listening – and it was a distraction for us in having something more to talk about with people than his treatment.”

As summer nears, the watersports-loving family can dare to dream of venturing further than an hour from Dunedin Hospital for a holiday. They have applied to Make-A-Wish NZ, which fundraises to make critically ill Kiwi children’s wishes come true.

Make-A-Wish NZ believes a wish is not a “nice to have” for a critically ill child; it’s a must. As a paediatric doctor points out: “Make-A-Wish represents so much beyond the beauty of a no-strings-attached gift. It becomes a therapy in itself, giving hope for a better day. More than that, it’s something the child has control over. In their world, where so much is taken out of their hands, Make-A-Wish remains their chance to choose, to plan and to dream.”

However, wishes don’t come true on their own, they’re granted by generous Kiwis who donate. Make-A-Wish NZ is calling on more generous Kiwis for their 2024 Christmas appeal, so Freddie and other Kiwi kids like him can receive their impactful wishes.

Lisa says when the family applied, Freddie took a while to decide what he’d like before deciding to go on a plane to somewhere with a warm climate. “Eventually he said he felt everyone else was doing things and he was missing out. He loves boats, he loves fishing, he loves swimming, and so we tried to bring all those things together.

“His wish is to spend some time on a boat that you can sleep on and go swimming, fishing, that kind of thing. And he wanted to include all his siblings. He’s really close to them and they have really travelled the journey with him, they’ve been incredibly supportive.

“Freddie couldn’t go anywhere and they couldn’t go anywhere. They couldn’t have friends over in case the friends had a cold and they brought it into the house. The silver lining is that the kids are closer because we had to team up and support each other.

“In the early stages of Fred’s treatment his hair was falling out. So we shaved his head, and then Matt shaved his in solidarity. We went into the room where his little brother was. He took one look at them and started crying.

“He said, ‘Do me, do me’, and we thought, ‘This could go pretty badly.’ If you shave a 4-year-old and they change their mind you can’t glue it back on. He insisted, so we did it and he was delighted. He just wanted to be like his big brother, in the only way that a 4-year-old can support an older brother. The following year Olivia shaved her head, too.”

Freddie and his family are looking forward to a special time together and appreciate Make-A-Wish NZ for including everyone. “Nothing can bring back those years when our lives were in limbo. To have something like this that brings us together… it doesn’t make up for it, but it gives us some precious family time and we’ll be so grateful for that.”

And maybe they’ll finally get that New Year’s Eve party? “Yeah. On a boat!”

There are over 300 Kiwi children just like Freddie who are also waiting for their wishes to come true. These are children like 6-year-old Thomas, who suffered Leukaemia. His wish is to go on a helicopter to an island, where he can swim with his family and friends and meet Robin from Batman. Or 11-year-old Izzy, who has stage four cancer. Her wish is for a Pomeranian puppy that she can call her own. A donation to Make-A-Wish NZ’s Christmas Appeal can help grant the wishes of Freddie, Thomas and Izzy, and other Kiwi kids just like them.

• To donate: makeawish.nz/christmas