By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Brenda Smyth is hoping for one last ‘trip of a lifetime’.
In a race against time, the terminally-ill Narre Warren South resident and her daughters are frantically crowd-funding to retrace a memorable family holiday they shared in the US many years ago.
“It would mean everything to go with my girls on one last trip,” Ms Smyth said as she hugged her pet, and close companion, Gavin.
But sadly their window is tight.
Ms Smyth faces a short and very painful battle after a shock cancer diagnosis on 18 March.
She was given a prognosis of between four to six months and no hope of treatment for the aggressive cancer that had spread to her liver, bones and lungs.
There is perhaps just weeks to enjoy a hastily-organised holiday before Ms Smyth will be too sick to travel.
The trip is a brainchild and parting gift from Ms Smyth’s dear daughters Sheree and Selina. It’s something for the grieving family to look forward to, Sheree says.
“We had planned to go back towards the end of the year, but with everything that’s happened, we can’t go then.
“We don’t have the funds to go as soon as possible. It’s one of the things that Mum was most upset about.”
The proposed itinerary is much the same as their holiday in California in 2014.
The three women would head back to Disneyland – where the girls and mum had hammed it up in Halloween hats and trick-or-treated on their last trip.
“We’d like to go back to Disneyland, take photos with the characters and do this child-like fantasy stuff,” Sheree said.
“It’ll be something other than pain and illness.”
Another stop would be Ms Smyth’s favourite trinket shop Bonanzas in Las Vegas.
And high on the bucket list is Venice Beach and its markets – which was unfortunately skipped on the last trip.
There’s the chance to re-sample American snack-food Cheetos Puffs, and to catch up with a friend Ms Smyth met on the last trip – ‘Moochie’ in San Francisco.
It will be a reminder of happier days, says daughter Sheree.
Such as when the neighbourhood kids would run through the kitchen to grab Ms Smyth’s freshly-baked butterfly cakes and eclairs.
The family hopes to raise $10,000 on its GoFundMe campaign page to cover flights, car hire, Disneyland and two weeks’ accommodation.
Sheree wrote on the page: “It would mean the world to the whole family, but especially to her, to be able to go on her dream trip and create special memories with her daughters.”
To donate, go to https://www.gofundme.com/brendas-dream-trip-to-america
