Jazzlyn makes a wish

 

In early 2017, 10-year-old Maungaturoto girl Jazzlyn Martin began suffering headaches followed by loss of appetite and dehydration. Her Mother Katrina picks up the story. “Though she had been to the doctor she wasn’t getting any better but when she developed vision problems and eye diversion I thought I had to take more drastic steps to diagnose her problem.”

In May last year Katrina took Jazzlyn to have a CT scan which revealed a massive brain tumour and saw her sent immediately to Auckland’s Starship Hospital for a major operation. 

It was during her recovery that the family met local Make-A-Wish New Zealand volunteers Dianne Christensen and Maggie Cameron. 
The Make-A-Wish society was set up in New Zealand in the mid 1980s to grant the wishes and bring some magic and joy to the lives of sick children – a bucket list for children. 

Months of treatment and radiation followed her operation and now Jazzlyn is almost back to her old self though she still has regular scans to make sure any problems don’t recur.

“It’s hard to describe the upheaval to a family with something like this,” says Katrina “but we have met so many wonderful people along the way and are very thankful to have a good outcome.”

Jazzlyn’s one true wish was to see the snow. She wanted to play with her sisters in the snow, make snowmen, and throw snowballs. So naturally, the wish fairies at Make-A-Wish New Zealand thought that a trip to Queenstown in the winter would be ideal.

In August Jazzlyn and her family were flown down to Queenstown where they went go karting, on the flying fox at Shotover Canyon, up the Skyline Gondola and visited Snow Farm NZ and Puzzle World.

Jazzlyn’s wish was made possible through the support of the Bayleys Foundation and the local Bayleys real estate team so there’s been a lot of local input to make Jazzlyn’s wish come true.

Jazzlyn and friends. At back, ‘wish fairies’ Maggie Cameron and Dianne Christensen from Bayleys Mangawhai. In front, Jade (3), Jazzlyn, and Te Aomarama (8).

Jazzlyn’s snow wish comes true!