JourneyOnline
In amongst the bands, speakers and rain at Easterfest this year, a very special event was taking place.
A 13-year-old Sydney girl by the name of Sarah Martin, who has Spinal Bifida and came out of major surgery just last year, had a wish granted by the Starlight Foundation.
This wish was to meet one of the headline artists at the festival – Rebecca St James.
Ms St James is a well respected singer, songwriter, author and actor and an outspoken pro-life advocate.
From a shout out at the girl’s only “She” event with Ms St James and Evie Tornquist, to a very personal half-hour one-on-one chat between Sarah and Ms St James, this wish really did make a young lady’s dream come true.
“I’ve loved her music for ages and have some of her CDs and my Mum got me She Teen for Christmas which was really good,” Sarah said about why she wanted to meet Rebecca.
Sarah and her family spent a day as VIPs at Easterfest, being escorted around the site, going to concerts and trying out all the carnival rides.
“This wish wasn’t just for Sarah,” said Zac Denham, a volunteer with the Starlight Foundation in Toowoomba.
“It was for the whole family and they were just over the moon … Sarah’s brothers were running around as if they were at Disneyland.”
The experience was equally moving for Ms St James.
“I feel like I’m the one being blessed here,” Ms St James said.
“Her courage and her selflessness and her positive attitude are just challenging me like crazy.
“We’ve actually just been talking about normal girl stuff like friends … Sarah likes to draw and I do abstract art, so we’ve talked about that too.”
Sarah said she would take away many things from the experience.
“I’m going to show the book to my school friends and show them a little more of who I am; like Rebecca encouraged me. This is like the most awesome experience ever.”
Photo : Sarah Martin and Rebecca St James meet at Easterfest 2009. Photo by Matt Gees
