Toys her last wish
Mileka Hamilton spots the baby blue truck.
A mini four-wheel-drive Jeep at the back of Toyworld Te Rapa, in Hamilton. Her face lights up as she hops into the truck and takes it for a test drive.
‘‘I think I’ll get it,’’ she says sheepishly.
The young girl from Hamilton has osteosarcoma, bone cancer.
The family learned this week she has a few weeks to live.
Mileka examines the countless shelves of soft toys, dolls, animals, outfits and accessories meticulously while her family and friends trail behind her.
The trolley she is yet to fill towers above the nine-year-old.
Slowly, she begins to pick other items around the store - Barbie dolls, a Hatchimal, Generation Dolls, Ty soft toys, Sylvanian Families and accessories.
This is Mileka’s dying wish - to go on a shopping spree at Toyworld. Through Make-a-Wish NZ, it all came together.
On Thursday, Mileka and her family and friends jumped in a limousine and made their way to the toy store.
The family’s saying to get them through is ‘‘f... cancer’’.
‘‘It’s the only way they’re allowed to swear in our house,’’ mum Samantha Hamilton says.
When Mileka was little, two cysts were found inside her bones. Her mum said this was common in young children and the cysts weren’t cancerous and posed no threat to her health.
But in January 2015, Mileka fell off her scooter and broke her right arm. The bone wasn’t healing, so after multiple X-rays over a few months, doctors found a tumour.
In April 2015, she started chemotherapy, but the tumour continued to grow. Rapidly.
By the end of June, it was 7 by 11 centimetres. Doctors did not want the tumour to grow over to her shoulder, so the only option was to amputate her arm.
In 2016 she relapsed, then relapsed again in 2017. The in her lungs.
After each session of chemotherapy, the scans would come back clear. But check-ups down the line would show the cancer was back.
‘‘She is a superstar and has been amazing through this entire journey,’’ Samantha said.
Her tumour now is around the size of a softball in her lung.
Surgery cannot safely remove all the cancer and chemotherapy and radiation would impair what quality of life she has left.
The family are spending as much time with Mileka at home, helping her tick off things on her bucket list.
Apart from the shopping spree, she also wants to go to an island, and while Fiji was her first pick, the next best thing is a trip to Waiheke Island for two nights.
She also wants to make a slime station and shoot a gun.
‘‘Interesting bucket list for a little girl, but that’s what she wants,’’ Samantha said.
‘‘We just want to make her time with us as enjoyable as possible.’’
Her dad, Allan Quigley, said it was amazing to see his daughter getting what she wants in the little time she has left.
‘‘It’s amazing to see a smile on her face and happy to be able to do something like this when she wouldn’t otherwise have an opportunity to do so.’’
Mileka said she couldn’t really explain it, but it was the best day ever for her.