Nicks Wish | About Nick's Wish


	What is Nick's Wish?

	“There is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.” - Mary Anne Radmacher
	Whilst being driven to his regular radiation and chemotherapy appointments at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, 23 year old Nick Boyd would pass The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) and wonder how the families of sick children were coping… Nick had been diagnosed with medulloblastoma or PNET (primitive neuroectodermal tumour), a rare tumour of the central nervous system, a condition which usually affects children. Nick’s mum, Lois, explains: “When we took Nick for his appointments, we had to drive past The Royal Children’s Hospital - as Nick’s cancer was a childhood cancer, Nick would say, ‘I wonder how many kids are in the hospital with what I have? I don’t know how the parents are able to cope as there are so many costs involved with day to day living expenses, on top of everything else they are going through...” Nick decided at that time that he was going to do something about it and declared that when he beat his cancer he was going to have a fundraiser with all of his friends and family to raise funds for the parents of children with cancer.
	Nick’s own journey with cancer had begun in February 2009 and after months of operations and gruelling chemotherapy and radiation, he was given the all clear in October. Nick’s family took a trip to Tasmania to celebrate but upon their return Nick started to feel a pain in his back – the cancer had come back. Just a few months later, on 14 February 2010, Nick lost his valiant fight with the disease. Nick was an incredibly popular and driven young man who would spend a lot of time organising his many groups of friends as well as doing very well in his work as an electrician – he had just bought his first house. As his mum, Lois, says “he had a plan”. But Nick’s compassion was the thing that seemed to run inherently through his blood. His father Stephen tells us more: “Nick had always been a compassionate person, even as a child, and during his illness he never once complained or ever thought of himself and why him. He had the maturity and strength to say where he wanted to be buried and where the service was to be held. He had a lot of ambition which was displayed again through wanting to raise funds for the families - he could see their struggle. Stephen and Lois Boyd brought Nick’s charitable vision to fruition in April 2010 and called it ‘Nick’s Wish’. Lois said: “At the beginning it was really hard, but we needed to get the message out there – the more we can do for the parents of these children, the better.” A huge testament to Nick’s exceptional character was the amount of friends he had, and together with his beloved family, including his sister Melissa and brother Craig, there are huge numbers of dedicated organisers and supporters of Nick’s Wish functions. These include fashion parades, trivia nights, band nights, theatre productions, ‘pie-drives’, make-up evenings, coffee clubs, walks and the epic, Rock at the Block. To date, Nick’s Wish has raised more than $200,000. The funds raised go towards food care packages, fuel vouchers, personal care and coffee packages as well as boxes of chocolates for families on the oncology ward at the RCH.