The Wish Effect

Every day in New Zealand, at least one family will be told their child has a life threatening illness. 

While many children eventually find ways to cope with or even beat their illness, there’s not much to look forward to in the months and years of treatment ahead. There’s little opportunity for sick kids to just be kids, and enjoy the moments other children take for granted.

Make-A-Wish creates life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. We believe wishes help children build the physical and emotional resilience they need to fight critical illness - with the power to positively impact the lives of not only sick kids, but also their families and wider communities.

Why do wishes matter?

More than 30 years of anecdotal feedback and ongoing international research has shown wishes are an essential complement to a child’s medical treatment, giving kids experiencing critical illness greater hope for their future.

Being on a Wish Journey gives children a greater sense of purpose and control over what happens to them.

When they know a wish is coming, children have the opportunity to stop focusing on their physical limitations, and start imagining their future.

When a wish is granted, a child experiences more positive emotions – replacing fear with confidence, sadness with joy and anxiety with hope.

Wishes work to complement a child’s medical treatment, helping to calm, distract and empower sick kids at the time they need it most.


QuinnWish Child Quinn meets her hero Justin Bieber

Quinn's mum says:"Within a few days of finally returning home and after months of treatment in another city, Make-A-Wish advised Quinn that she would get to meet Justin and attend his upcoming concert. She had harbored her dream, her wish, steadfastly for many months. It had helped her during some of her sickest days. It had given her a goal, something to look forward to. And now it would finally happen.

The pure unadulterated joy on Quinn’s face when the Make-A-Wish volunteers came to our house with all the details is a moment seared indelibly in my mind. Quinn had believed, and everything was going to be all right."


The Wishing TreeHear more from Wish children and their families about the positive power of a wish here: The Wish Tree (Vid 4:33)



More about wishes / related pages:

< What the experts say

< The wish journey

< Apply for a wish

< World wish day


Grant a kiwi kid's wish...