Diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer in 2022, 6yo Caiden fell in love with the cartoon Bluey’s World while in Starship gets his dream trip to Bluey’s World. Video | Carson Bluck
The young Auckland boy was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer stage four Diffuse Midline Glioma (DMG/DIPG) in 2022, and fell in love with the cartoon character while in Starship Hospital undergoing radiation treatment.
Most of those with Caiden’stype of cancer are given a prognosis of nine months to a year, but 20 months after his diagnosis, he’s still fighting. Now, his parents Jasmine and Karl MacGibbon want to give their boy as many memorable experiences as they can in the time they have left with him, and a trip to meet Bluey is at the top of their list.
Six-year-old Caiden MacGibbon and his family are going to Bluey's World. Photo / Carson Bluck
The Herald visited Caiden and his parents to surprise them with the news that Tourism and Events Queensland and Bluey’s World are coming together to make his dream come true.
Watch the video above to see their reaction.
While Caiden can’t wait to meet Bluey and give her a high five, his parents are “blown away”.
“That’s just crazy ... there’s so many lovely people out there doing so many lovely things for Caiden and it’s just really touching,” mum Jasmine says.
Caiden’s parents both gave up work when their son was diagnosed with cancer, which they tell the Herald wasn’t an easy decision.
“It’s been pretty hard for us,” Jasmine shares. “It has really impacted us in the sense that we can’t go above and beyond and work hard to provide extra activities for the kids.
“It’s a bit of a struggle, and food costs and everything have gone up. It’s crazy.”
Caiden has already undergone two rounds of radiation and is currently on a chemotherapy drug to target one of the mutations of his cancer. While it’s not a cure, it’s hoped it will extend his life. Meanwhile, his parents want to give him as many memorable experiences as possible.
“Because we are not in control of his tumour and we can’t cure him, we just try and fulfil as many of his wishes as we can,” his mum explains.
Asked how it would feel to get him to Bluey’s World, she says, “I would feel like we’ve done him proud. I would feel like we’ve been able to achieve things for him in this nightmare of a situation, because his happiness is everything to us.
Caiden was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer in 2022. Photo / Carson Bluck
“We thought we had a whole lifetime to do many, many things, so we weren’t in any rush, but now we have this ticking time bomb hovering over us where we have to fit in as much as we can while we can.”
Caiden’s dad Karl says he and his wife are taking things “one day at a time”.
“The thing is, it’s normal now.”
“It shouldn’t feel normal to us, but it feels this is our new normal,” Jasmine agrees.
“You just get thrown on this roller coaster of a ride and you’re buckled in, you can’t go anywhere - you’re just on this continuous ride.”
While their flights and tickets to Bluey’s World are now covered, Caiden’s Givealittle page has already raised thousands. The MacGibbons plan to use it for any additional expenses during the trip, from food to gifts to experiences for their kids.
Queensland, the home state of hit show Bluey, sets a world record for biggest game of Keepy Uppy. Photo / Tourism and Events Queensland
“We may even take Caiden on a holiday to the snow here in Queenstown too, as he has never touched snow before.”
Speaking to the Herald earlier this week, Jasmine shared her gratitude to all those who had donated.
“I want to say thank you to everyone that has supported us, because this journey has shown us who our true people are and a lot of them are strangers. So we are so thankful for those people that are standing by us and helping us. We feel like we have a village.”
They’re not the only lucky Kiwi family set to visit Bluey’s World - Lauren Purse and her family, including 2-year-old Jasper, are the winners of the ‘Queensland is Bluey’s World for real life!’ competition.
The Purse family had planned a trip to Queensland a few years ago, which was cancelled due to Covid-19. Now, they will get to experience it for the first time, along with a visit to Bluey’s World.
Bluey’s World is set to open in Brisbane on November 7.
