Cape Town - It was a dream come true, and the longest a 14-year-old boy from Manenberg had been able to stand up in a month.
Omar Matthews was diagnosed with leukaemia a month ago, and on Monday, one of his dreams was made reality when he flew around the Cape in a helicopter flip.
The Reach for a Dream foundation and Heart 104.9 collaborated to make Omar’s dream come true as part of the radio station’s HeartBeats4Youth youth month campaign.
Despite the wind buffeting the Cape on Monday, Omar took to the copilot’s seat for a birds eye view of his home city. The helicopter flip took him from the V&A Waterfront, on a loop to Muizenberg and back.
Wrapped up tightly in a beanie, hoodie and scarf, his eyes gleamed with excitement as he was strapped into his seat and given his earphones for the flight.
“I’m a bit nervous, I don’t know why,” he said.
undefinedIn the back of the helicopter, his mom Shireen Matthews was battling her fear of heights as she looked out of the window to the land and sea far below.
Matthews said Omar went through a gauntlet of wrong diagnoses before finding out he had leukaemia.
“We’ve seen seven doctors, and everybody diagnosed rheumatism, arthritis, muscle fatigue,” she said. “Then a month ago we found he has high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. He started his chemo three weeks ago, and so far so good.”
Omar’s father, Rasheed Matthews, said his family had been through massive adjustments in the month since his son’s diagnosis. “It’s something you do adjust to. It’s totally different, everything, on a daily basis. Our whole routine has changed drastically. We just take it day to day.”
His mother was overcome with emotion to see her son happy.
“I’m just grateful that he’s smiling,” she said. “He’s walking the longest I’ve seen him walking in a month. Just knowing he’s smiling makes me smile the whole day.”
Omar was glad to be back on the ground, but quietly smiled through the scarf wrapped around his face. “It was nice,” he said. The scariest part for him was when the helicopter tilted, turning around.
Jeanine Bothma, from the Reach for a Dream Foundation, said it’s all about inspiring hope in children who are trying to survive scary sicknesses and endure long, painful treatments.
“ We try to get them away from that hospital environment and make them believe that dreams can come true,” Bothma said. “They need to fight for their lives to get through the treatment a positive, better kid on the other side.”
Being the dreams co-ordinator for the Western Cape, Bothma said it was about making small wishes a reality, to bring a spark of hope to children during serious illness.
“We try to give them their dreams. It might be a helicopter ride, or meeting a dolphin – kids are so inspired by the tiniest thing that they dream of.”
Bothma said that through making dreams come true, she aimed to make children “forget the hospital, the needles, the doctor visits and the times that they were ill after they had chemo”, and turn their minds to something fun and exhilarating instead.
Cape Argus