Wish stories

Skye has always been very sporty, which sometimes meant she had aches and pains. But after a football tournament in 2018, she complained that her arm was hurting. The doctor said she’d probably pulled a muscle and not to worry. But later, while she was on holiday in Greece, Skye fell off an inflatable banana boat and hurt the same arm. 

Back at home, her parents took her to A&E and were shocked to find that scans showed that she had a cancerous tumour in her arm. Skye began chemotherapy treatment over 10 months, but it didn’t shrink the tumour. Instead, the tumour grew until Ann could see it becoming visible in Skye’s arm. 

After the chemotherapy didn't work, Skye made the brave decision to have her arm amputated and the procedure took place on 27th September 2018. Throughout the whole ordeal Skye was very strong and didn’t cry once, Ann said.

Ann describes that whole period of time as ‘hell’ for her and her family. She said: “As a mother taking your daughter in to have poison pumped into her was horrendous.” So she was delighted when Skye rang the bell in hospital to celebrate the end of her treatment.

Now Skye has completely adapted to life with one arm. She can write, eat, draw, take part in assault courses and do pretty much everything with her left hand. She even won an art competition in hospital and is learning to sew using her grandmother’s old machine.

Friends and family also fundraised for her to have a specially designed prosthetic arm which she can have a tattoo on, stick pins in and charge her mobile phone on as well as have a magnetic part that things like make up brushes could stick to. She can’t wait to get it fitted!

Skye has always loved clothes shopping and fashion and she dreams of becoming a fashion designer for amputees because she has found it so hard to get clothes that fit her properly now.

So her wish was to go to Milan Fashion Week to see how the professionals work! Wishgranter Erica got to work, ringing round various contacts, checking the family had valid passports, booking flights from Edinburgh to Milan, and booking accommodation and other experiences in Italy.

Ann told us: “Skye and Sara have both suffered as a result of her illness just in different ways, so it was nice that Sara was able to be included in the wish because they’re both into their fashion. The wish was amazing! The generosity and the gifts they got, the shops in Milan, the people we met – it was absolutely phenomenal. She got everything and more than she was expecting. Just to be in Milan, the four of us, and to see the fashion show, clothes and shops was unbelievable.”