Wish stories

While receiving treatment in various hospitals throughout his childhood, Marco’s passion for flying, air shows and engineering came as a welcome distraction. “Me and my dad would work after school on repairing his old car, it was great to do something creative which took my mind off the situation.” Due to the condition and treatment needed, Marco’s energy could sometimes hinder his ability to participate in sports and activities with his friends, although they were always supportive, it was important to have a passion he could use as a creative outlet.

For Marco, choosing his wish was a simple task. Having accrued a number of hours already learning to fly small aircraft, there was no better way to celebrate being in remission from Crohn's disease, than to fly in the most iconic plane of the 20th century, the Spitfire. Marco loved every second of it, “it was an amazing experience, the pilot let me fly the spitfire for five minutes and barrel roll in the air!” He was even able to log the minutes in his pilot’s logbook, something that even experienced flyers can only dream of.

Fast forward to today and Marco has just enrolled on an aerospace engineering course at a top university, with the aim to follow in his father’s and grandfather's footsteps of becoming an engineer. Marco now looks back on that day with great fondness, not only because of the wish but what it means to him personally, “It was a really poignant day, I used to go to air shows with my granddad who sadly passed away this year. To think of how happy he would have been to have seen me in the air, makes the experience something I’ll never forget.”