Former wish child joins board of trustees at Make-A-Wish UK
Less than seven years after having her wish granted by Make-A-Wish UK, Sara Millar, now 22, from Glasgow has become the youngest ever member of the charity’s board of trustees.
The announcement completes a full-circle journey for Sara, who had her wish granted to meet chef Gennaro Contaldo in 2019, and has been determined to give back to other children facing critical illnesses ever since. Sara sat on the initial cohort of the charity’s young people’s advisory board, STARboard, and has since served as Youth Advisor to the board, before now becoming a full trustee herself.
After being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma aged 14, Sara spent two years in and out of hospital receiving treatment and admits she lost a lot of confidence and independence as she needed to learn how to walk again. Food and cooking provided respite during her illness and inspired her wish to cook with Italian TV chef Contaldo, a memory that has stuck with her ever since. Alongside her voluntary work with Make-A-Wish, Sara has turned her passion for food into a career in sales, following her family into the ice cream industry and working with NIC UK, a national supplier of ice cream-related products.
"My wish gave me something to look forward to when everything else felt out of my control and for just one day, I felt both special and like a normal teenager again. That experience has stayed with me, and I’m passionate about ensuring the charity’s future is shaped by the real experiences and perspectives of the young people we serve. I know first-hand how a wish truly changes lives and will work very hard to make sure that many other young people get the same hope and joy I did."
“Our aim as a charity is to not only be child-focused, but child-led, which is why we set up STARboard to enable young people with that lived experience of a wish to guide us and ensure that wish children and their families are at the very heart of what we do – and Sara has formed a key part of that. We’re so incredibly proud of everything Sara has accomplished, from her resilience in dealing with, and overcoming her illness at a young age, through to the passion and commitment she has shown to ensuring more young people with critical illnesses can have their wishes granted too. She has demonstrated time and again to all our trustees, both in her roles on STARboard, and as our Youth Advisor that she has all the skills and values required to shape the strategic direction of the charity.””
