A sick Whakatane boy will get a bucket-list wish, after receiving a very special call from the Prime Minister, hours after he appealed to meet her.
Twelve-year-old Malachi Agnew has been in and out of hospital since he was six weeks old, spending most of his time between Tauranga, Waikato and Starship Hospitals, with several medical issues, NZME reports.
To help him through his conditions, he created a bucket list with more than 70 things to tick off and one of them was to meet Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
On Thursday morning, mother Julie Agnew posted on Facebook, saying Malachi had received a phone call from Ardern, after she saw an NZME story.
"He was hopping from one foot to the other and beamed from ear to ear," she said. "They chatted for 15 minutes about all sorts of things and a meeting is being arranged.
"He is so excited. She has spoken to the Defence Minister, arranging a few other things as well.
"She was truly amazing, having only heard about it last night, she tracked us down and rang immediately, arranging a call with Malachi this morning. Just blown away!
"She was so lovely and down to Earth to chat to, but a bit surreal, putting her name into my contacts list."
Malachi first went to hospital when he was six weeks old and at age four, he had his first major brain surgery to treat Chiari Malformation - structural defects in the base of the skull and cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls balance.
He also has intracranial pressure, migraines, scoliosis, epilepsy, asthma and some vertebrae were fused, which now pinch nerves. He has to be fed through a port in his stomach, because his stomach muscles are too weak to digest food and his body does not absorb enough nutrients.
Malachi's muscles are starting to degenerate and doctors are doing tests to find out what's causing it, so it can be treated before it gets to his heart.
Malachi woke up in Starship's high dependency unit recently and decided there were some things in life he did not want to miss out on. That's when he started his bucket list.
His aunt set up a Givealittle page to help tick off some of those items and to pay for equipment for him, such as a pressure bed and a hydrotherapy pool.
Malachi's bucket list
1. Feel what it is like to fly free DONE
2. Trot a horse DONE
3. Canter a horse ORGANISED
4. Stand on a volcano and not die ORGANISED
5. Graduate intermediate
6. Drive a 4 wheeler motorbike DONE
7. Sit among heroes (local RSA)
8. See mum get her private pilot's licence
9. Catch my first trout ORGANISED
10. Fly in a helicopter DONE
11. Watch a chicken hatch out of its egg
12. Get my first deer (and see Mum's face) DONE
13. Show Maitlan (older brother) how he's my hero
14. Take Jelani (younger brother) to his first day of kindy DONE
15. Take Myran (younger brother) to his first day of school
16. Meet the Black Falcons DONE
17. Go to Air Tattoo DONE
18. Fly a NZ flag
19. Get a family photo for Mum
20. Work at SPCA for a day
21. Learn to juggle
22. Do Tongariro crossing with Mum
23. Stand under a waterfall ORGANISED
24. Meet a tuatara
25. Cuddle a real kiwi ORGANISED
26. Scream DONE
27. Fly with Dave Brown
28. Show Mum how I see her really
29. See a Nicu baby
30. Paraglide
31. Go skiing
32. Watch Myran in his first flight
33. Sit in a Hercules (RNZAF)
34. Swim with sharks at Kelly Tarlton's
35. Go on a first date
36. Kiss the most beautiful girl in the world
37. See Maitlan parachute (witness his dream come true)
38. Meet Jacinda Ardern
39. Meet someone who understands beauty DONE
40. Stand on Whenuapai Air force base and watch parade
41. Do karaoke
42. Do a somersault
43. Do something unexpected for someone
44. Run and dance barefoot in the rain
45. See a sunrise DONE
46. See a sunset
47. Dance with Mum
48. Get a dog that's mine and Mum's, so she can cuddle it when I'm in hospital
49. Do overnight tramp with Maitlan
50. Make a difference in someone's day
51. Swim with dolphins
52. Find Mother Nature
53. Fly kites with Myran and Jelani DONE
54. Plant a tree of life
55. See Alastair on parade
56. Write letters to Mum and my brothers
57. Make a wedding dress for Mum DONE
58. Put a time capsule down
59. Become a nurse
60. Go to Alice Springs and see flying doctors
61. Hunt my first pig
62. Go through a dam and see how it works DONE
63. See a beehive and collect the honey ORGANISED
64. Go in a speedboat
65. Watch something with a big machine
66. Drive a car ... fast on a race track
67. Do a high ropes course with Maitlan DONE
68. Feed stingrays
69. Sky swing with Maitlan
70. Spend an entire day at Motion Entertainment in Rotorua with my brothers and Mum
71. Gliding
72. Indoor skydive
73. Zorb
74. 3D figures of my family
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