Fossil-hunting wish come true
family travelled to the coast in South Wales to meet Ben Evans from the British Institute for Geological Conservation.
He took them on a behind-thescenes tour at the National Museum of Wales, exploring the archives and a secret area of the museum where the fossils are kept.
Catrin was amazed to see fossilised spiders over 300 million years old and Ben let her handle mammoth remains that were 12,000 years old.
Afterwards, they visited a nearby beach where dinosaur prints embedded in the rock are exposed when the tide goes out.
Catrin discovered a trail of footprints and, with Ben’s help, took a print of one of the footprints using clay, so that she could turn it into a cast at home as a memory of the day.
At a beach further along the coast there are thousands of fossils in the cliff face at the back of the beach. There, Ben gave Catrin and sister Megan their own set of safety goggles and a hammer and chisel and showed them how to spot a fossil and then how to chip them out of the rock.
Catrin’s mum, Liz, 35, said: “When Catrin was in treatment she didn’t have any weekend news to share at school, but after her wish, it’s so nice for her to talk about her special weekend with her class mates. We’re still talking about the wish now, and we’ve put up a display cabinet in Catrin’s room full of memories from her wish.
“In amongst everything that’s happened, this will be a really positive experience for her and something that she will remember, rather than all the hospital visits.”
Jo Micklewright, director of wish- granting at Make-A-Wish UK said: “Catrin’s wish is one that captures the imagination – to walk in the footsteps of prehistoric creatures!
“Children like Catrin endure things that no child should face, and we believe that by providing quality time away from the daily realities of living with their condition we can give children hope for the future, strength to cope and resilience to fight their condition – whatever the future may hold.
“We hope Catrin’s wish will give her and her family many happy memories.”