“I thought I would have more time”

Our Dreamer Danielle was just two days away from having her Dream realised before she sadly passed away. Her dream was to travel from rural NSW and go into “Maroon territory to watch (her) beloved Blues play”.

Danielle who had been living with advanced breast cancer for three years wrote to us in May this year saying “I thought I would have more time. To see my youngest daughter become a woman. See the marriages, the grandchildren, all the things we take for granted. We always said we would like to go to Brisbane and see the State of Origin, but just never had the time.”

Danielle’s dream of seeing the State of Origin was all arranged, thanks to the generosity of Nine and A Current Affair, and the will of our Dream Makers. What was going to be the families “last hooray together” became a much more solemn trip after she made her family promise they would go with, or without her.

We know how excited Danielle was in the lead up to having her dream realised - the anticipation of the dream, we hope was a gift in itself. Over the last couple of weeks Nine had kindly arranged for Brad Fittler to call Danielle, our Dream Makers had regular correspondence, and her social feed was alight with excitement. We also know she would have loved the result, with NSW winning the match, and the series.

And we are delighted that her family honoured her wishes, attending the game decked out in their blues, meeting Brad Fittler, attending with their Doctor - Doctor Di - apparently a hard and fast Queensland supporter - also there as support.

Stephen, Danielle's husband said "That was so special. Words can not explain how happy it made me to see our two girls enjoy themselves for the whole length of the game. It allowed us to enjoy ourselves as a family again for that length of time, because we felt Danni right there with us. I can not express in words how grateful I am to Louise from Dreams2Live4, A Current Affair, Brad Fittler and Chanel 9 for making this happen for our family. We are surely not worthy of this. So thank you to every one involved."