As part of the Grow the Grinch's Heart campaign, our friends at Carnival Cruise Line Australia wanted to give two-year-old Ashton and his family an experience to remember. So, they invited them onboard their Grinchmas in July cruise to try to give them back some of the Christmas experiences they missed after having spent a total of 237 days in hospital (that's nearly 8 months) and two Christmases.

Ashton's journey began in November 2020 when his parents Natasha and Nathan were preparing for their second child to enter the world and were excited at the prospect of celebrating their first Christmas as a family of four. Unfortunately, the family didn't get the Christmas miracle they longed for as, at just five days old, Ashton was diagnosed with a rare cancer.

Thankfully, little Ashton is a fighter and after four long months of chemotherapy, he reached remission and was able to finally go home.

However, after three wonderful months at home, the family received another devastating blow - Ashton had relapsed.

"You know, we thought the initial diagnosis was hard. But a relapse diagnosis is so much harder," recalled Natasha.

Having to mentally come to terms with Ashton battling through his condition again, Natasha and Nathan remained strong and hopeful. They knew Ashton and their family were in the best place possible and they had the support of the doctors and nurses around them. 

Ashton has spent 237 days, 5664 hours and 339,840 minutes as an inpatient in hospital. The hallways of the Hospital, once so scary, have now become familiar and comforting as The Children's Hospital at Westmead became their second home.

Thanks to Carnival Cruise Line, in July 2023 the family were able to enjoy their first holiday together, allowing the family to sit back, relax and create some long-lasting memories. Carnival Cruise Line has been a proud partner of Sydney Children's Hospitals Foundation since 2016, raising over $312,000 for vital services to support sick children and their families. Their support has helped fund life-saving monitoring equipment for the Grace Centre for Newborn Intensive Care, the development of the Anaesthetics Virtual Reality Project, as well as Music Therapy for the Grace Centre and the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit. And most recently, they donated to support the Child Life Therapist in the Cardiac Ward, supporting little hearts in the Hospital and growing the Grinch's heart at the same time!

Thank you, Carnival Cruise Lines, for allowing Ashton and his family to create some beautiful memories of Christmas together.