‘I’VE GOT 144,000 REASONS TO LIVE’
THOMAS IS TICKING OFF HIS BUCKET LIST, ONE ADVENTURE AT A TIME
The waves washed over Thomas Glendenning’s board as he propelled himself through the break and into the ocean beyond.
The 17-year-old’s eyes were firmly fixed on the shark buoy 1km from the Gold Coast beach he’d started from. His heart was racing and as he eventually reached it, he knew he’d paddled out further than ever before.
“I was scared,” Thomas, now 19, tells New Idea. “It hits you when you’re out there so far away from anything, but it’s an awesome feeling too.”
The teenager from Elanora, Queensland began his solo ocean adventures in 2021 just after he’d finished year-long treatment for a rare bone cancer, Ewing’s sarcoma.
“I’d had chemotherapy and radiotherapy and when I got better, I wanted to do something to celebrate,” he says. “I wanted to paddle out and catch big waves, and I wanted to do bungee jumping and snowboard too, but there was no money for that.”
At that point, Thomas believed he had the rest of his life to do all those things. But in March 2022 his world came crashing down...
“I had tenderness in my bones and a check-up confirmed it. The cancer was back,” Thomas explains. “The treatment hadn’t worked to get rid of it.”
Thomas’ diagnosis was terminal. He and mum Kelly Wilkinson were told he had between 12 and 18 months to live. It was devastating for his close-knit family of four brothers, but the everpositive teen didn’t take long to pull himself up.
“I didn’t have any choice. I had to get on with it,” he says.
And he’s doing that by living his best possible life in the time he has left.
“I said to Mum I wanted to go to the snow in New Zealand. I’ve never been overseas before,” Thomas says, adding that with the support and help of his mum, he set up a fundraising page.
Kelly, a 42-year-old single mum who has never asked for help before, laid out her son’s journey.
“Over the last few years, it has been really tough to watch
Thomas grow from a strong healthy young teen to live his life independently to now succumbing to a terminal illness that will take his life so young,” Kelly wrote.
“Thomas has started to make a bucket list and would like to do as much as possible before he can’t do anymore.”
Thomas adds: “It started off with a trip to the snow and bungee jumping, but I added more experiences like skydiving and a helicopter ride.”
Things really took off after a friend sent Thomas’ story to a news channel, and a TV crew turned up at his front door.
“They surprised me by saying I was skydiving out of a helicopter,” Thomas tells us excitedly – and clearly still in shock!
It was the start of Thomas’ bucket list going viral and over the last two months, he has by far exceeded his $40,000 fundraising target with friends and strangers contributing over $144,000.
“I can’t believe it. I want to say thank you to everyone. It’s pretty sick!”
As the money has grown so too has Thomas’ bucket list. Already he has been jet skiing, completed more skydives and has a fishing trip to catch a marlin on the horizon.
‘I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU TO EVERYONE’
“If I do 200 skydives I can try wingsuiting. That’d be amazing,” he says with a laugh.
With the green-light from his doctors, Thomas is now focusing on ensuring the next year is the best and most action-packed of his young life.
“I’m pretty hyped about it,” he says, before humbling adding: “I’m so grateful to everyone.”